Rodgers and Hammerstein had the two blockbuster musicals on Broadway in April 1946, "Oklahoma!" in its fourth year and "Carousel" now in its second. "Song of Norway" and "Bloomer Girl" were also in their second year. So far it had not been a great season for new musicals, in part because hold-overs were occupying some of the best venues. The returning veterans seemed most interested in seeing the shows that everybody had been talking about like "Oklahoma" and "Carousel." Revivals of "Show Boat" and "The Red Mill" were doing strong business, but the newcomers were generally a weak lot. "Are You With It" and "Billion Dollar Baby" were doing okay, benefiting largely from the lack of competition. "St. Louis Woman" and "Lute Song" were disappointments. The musical revue, once a mainstay of the Broadway stage, was in decline.
Early in the season, "Nellie Bly" was a colossal flop and "Carib Song," designed as a showcase for Katherine Dunham and her dance troupe, lasted only a few weeks. Two efforts to replicate the success of "Song of Norway" by using the music of classical composers--Chopin in the case of "Polonaise" and Lully in "The Would Be Gentleman"-- also came and went with great speed. The operetta "Marinka" managed a 21-week run but "Mr Strauss Goes to Boston," with choreography by George Balanchine, lasted only a little over a week. Jackie Gleason had the sense to leave "The Duchess Misbehaves" before it started its five-performance run with Joey Faye as his replacement.
The first smash hit of the 1945/46 season, "Call Me Mister," was opening that week preceded by great out-of-town reviews and word of mouth. Anticipation was building for Irving Berlin’s return to Broadway with “Annie Get Your Gun,” starring Ethel Merman, scheduled to bow on April 25. A song from the show "It's Wonderful" already was being performed on radio and being recorded by top vocalists, but last-minute problems with the rigging at the Imperial Theatre sent the production to Philadelphia while the machinery was repaired. It opened on Broadway on May 16 to great success.
Here are the musicals playing on Broadway that week:
Starring
John Raitt, Iva Withers, Jean Darling, Christine Johnson
Harold Keel (later known as Howard Keel), Joseph Buloff,Betty Jane Watson, Ruth Weston
Irra Petina, Lawrence Brooks, members of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo
Dick Smart, Dooley Wilson, Dorothy Jarnac, Mabel Taliaferro. Richard Huey
Muriel Smith . Napoleon Reed, Elton J. Warren, the vaudeville dance team of Buck and Bubbles and jazz drummer Oliver Coleman
Dancer Joan McCracken and former Hollywood child star Mitzi Green
Nicholas Brothers, Pearl Bailey, Rex Ingram, Ruby Hill
Buddy Ebsen, known then primarily as a dancer, Jan Clayton (the original Julie Jordan in “Carousel”), Charles Fredericks, Kenneth Spencer, Carol Bruce and dancer Pearl Primus
Ray Bolger, Brenda Forbes, Gordon MacRae,Harold Lang,Bibi Osterwald, Meg Mundy, Carleton Carpenter and Arthur Godfrey.
Joan Roberts. Johnny Downs and Dolores Gray
Betty Garrett, Jules Munshin, Bill Cunningham and Maria Karnilova.
Theater
Majestic
St. James
Broadway
Schubert
New York City Center
Alvin
Broadhurst
Plymouth
Martin Beck
Ziegfeld
46th Street Theatre
Adelphi
Century
National
Notes
In its second year
In its fourth year
A musical pseudo-biography of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg with choreography by George Balanchine, in its second year.
A long-running Civil War-era musical comedy with music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg and choreography by Agnes de Mille. These were the last two weeks of a two-year run. Celeste Holm and Joan McCracken were in the original cast.
Oscar Hammerstein’s transposition of Bizet’s opera to an African-American setting, returning for a limited engagement after a national tour.
Betty Comden and Adolph Green’s less successful follow-up to “Wonderful Town,” set in the 1920s and directed by George Abbott. McCracken played a Staten Island girl who gets involved with a gangster and then with a tycoon. Green played a character modeled on Texas Guinan. The show with music by Morton Gould made little effort to recreate the musical style of the period. It had no hit songs and the story hit every cliche of the decade. The show was notable primarily for the choreography of Jerome Robbins, who had earned the enmity of de Mille by purloining most of the lead dancers from “Bloomer Girl,” including McCracken, for this production. It had opened in December and held on for seven months.
The show had announced it was closing in May after a three-year run. It was a collection of burlesque sketches held together by a slim plot that was popular with servicemen. Jackie Gleason was in the original cast.
A tepid musical adaptation of a classic Chinese story, directed by John Houseman. This was Martin's follow-up to her hit "One Touch of Venus" but was notable mainly for its scenery. The show had been developed at Catholic University's experimental theater program. It opened in February and had a modest run of 142 performances.
A Harold Arlen score and Johnny Mercer lyrics, featuring yet another “all-Negro cast” The NAACP had picketed the show for its portrayal of African Americans, despite a book by acclaimed African- American poet Countee Cullen, based on a novel by African-American writer Arna Bontemps. Cullen died while the play was in tryouts. Lena Horne, originally set to play the lead, quit as did the choreographer Antony Tudor. Ruby Hill had been replaced but was rehired just before the opening. Top gun director Rouben Mamoulian ("Oklahoma!" "Porgy and Bess," "Carousel") was brought in to save the show, which never seemed to decide if it was a modest folk musical or a splashy Broadway production, a drama or a comedy. The story was set in St. Louis at the turn of the century where a dying man puts a jinx on a jockey for stealing his woman. Although the score included such soon-to-be-standards as “Come Rain or Come Shine” and “Anywhere I Hang My Hat Is Home” and the show had a show-stopping performance from Pearl Bailey as the comic relief, the play, which had opened March 30, had a modest run of 111 performances.
A smash-hit revival of the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein musical. It had opened in December. Kern had come to New York to work on the show and on a new musical, "Annie Get Your Gun," but died in November. He did add one new song, "Nobody Else But Me."
A surprise smash hit revival of Victor Herbert’s 1906 operetta that originated on the West Coast. It opened in October and ran for 531 performances, almost twice its original run.
The third and "least satisfactory" of a series of revues from Nancy Hamiton according to The New Yorker. The highlight was Bolger's "The Old Soft Shoe," which he danced with straw hat, striped blazer, white pants and a cane. It also featured the skit "Kenosha Canoe," which was Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy as Rodgers and Hammerstein might have staged it. The cast had a number of up-and-comers who would move on to bigger and better things.
According to The New Yorker, “a very fetching blonde called Dolores Gray" was the principal reason for seeing this mediocre production. Joan Roberts was the original Laurey in "Oklahoma!" The creaky plot, adapted from a novel, was about a staid, nervous accountant who joins a carnival. The play was filled with double entendre humor and had a score by Harry Revel. It had a solid run and was made into a movie.
Opening on April 18. A revue with music and lyrics by Harold Rome about returning veterans adjusting to civilian life. The publicity stated that all of the performers were veterans of the wartime military or the U.S.O. It would be a smash hit.