Some forgotten musicals:
BY THE BEAUTIFUL SEA: This Coney Island set musical starring Shirley Booth has a long sequence on the 4th including a musical tribute to King George (long before Hamilton).
DEAREST ENEMY: This early hit for Rodgers and Hart (the lovely "Here in My Arms") is set in New York City during the Revolution and tells a kind of true story. You can find out why a section of Manhattan is known as Murray Hill. Happily a complete version of the score was recorded a few years ago and there is also a DVD of a 50s television production with Cornelia Otis Skinner and Cyril Richard.
ARMS AND THE GIRL: Nanette Fabray wants to be a spy for the Revolution, Pearl Bailey is a runaway slave and George Gutery (yes, he did something besides An American in Paris) is a runaway Prussian soldier, who will settle for "A Frau and a Plow and a Cow". |
