(1938)

Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
Book by Sam and Bella Spewack

Directed by Greg MacKellan
Musical Direction by Dave Dobrusky
Choreography by Jayne Zaban

42nd Street Moon closes its 2001 season with Cole Porter's Leave It To Me!, his 1938 collaboration with Sam and Bella Spewack (his co-authors for Kiss Me, Kate). Local cabaret favorite Darlene Popovic stars in this typical Porter confection about a Kansas wife who maneuvers her unwilling husband into international politics. The show will also be recorded in a CD co-sponsored by a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts and approved by the Cole Porter Trusts. Directed by Greg MacKellan, with musical direction by Dave Dobrusky and choreography by Jayne Zaban, Leave It To Me! plays November 28 through December 23, 2001at San Francisco's Eureka Theatre.

Leave It To Me! follows Leora Goodhue, an ambitious wife who finagles her husband, bathtub manufacturer Alonzo Goodhue into a position as the United States Ambassador to Russia. ("If only those sneaky Kennedys hadn't grabbed England first," Leora complains.) Powerhouse publisher J.H. Brody wants the appointment himself, and sends his top reporter, Buckley Thomas, to secretly discredit Goodhue. On his arrival, however, Buckley learns that Alonzo is desperate to get out of the post, so the two join forces to get him dismissed. Every attempt to lose Goodhue the job only earns him greater acclaim, however. Finally, Buckley realizes that in politics, no good deed ever goes unpunished: a revelation that soon wins Goodhue his ticket home.

The Spewacks based their cheekily impudent script on their earlier comedy Clear All Wires. Leave It To Me! opened to raves at New York's Imperial Theatre, running for a year before setting out on a national tour. Vaudeville and radio star Sophie Tucker, in her only Broadway book-musical appearance, starred as Leora; Victor Moore and William Gaxton co-starred as Goodhue and Thomas. The hit of the show, however, was 25-year-old Mary Martin, making her Broadway debut singing the show-stopping "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" (backed up by fresh-faced chorus boy Gene Kelly). Martin claimed Sophie Tucker had to advise her on her performance of "Daddy," because the saucy Cole Porter lyrics went completely over her head: "Just roll your eyes on every third line," Tucker told her, and she did.

The top-notch Cole Porter score for Leave It To Me! includes several crowd-pleasers; in fact, three of the songs from the show peaked in the Top Ten: "My Heart Belongs to Daddy," "Get Out of Town," and "From Now On." The score also includes the rousing revival number "Tomorrow," "Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love" the swingy "I'm Taking the Steps to Russia," and one of Porter's most beautiful, but least-known, ballads, a gem of a tune called "Far, Far Away." The prolific Porter actually composed at least eight more songs for this show, which ended up not being used; some of these "lost" songs will be featured on 42nd Street Moon's cast recording of the show.

Cabaret diva Popovic appeared last year as the goddess Juno in 42nd Street Moon's production of Porter's Out of This World. The Oakland Tribune raved: "Popovic, a madcap comedian, rules the stage; her solo renderings are marvelously effective." She will be joined on stage by Richard Pardini (Beach Blanket Babylon, Forever Plaid, Moon's Do Re Mi ) as her hapless husband, Alonzo; Steve Rhyne (Moon's Sitting Pretty, Do I Hear a Waltz?, and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever) as Buckley Thomas; Caroline Altman (Moon's Nymph Errant, Fanny, and Out of This World) as Colette Renaud, a French reporter, and Murphy Hart (TheatreWorks' Gypsy, American Musical Theatre of San Jose's Grand Hotel) as Dolly Winslow. Also appearing are Kathleen Dederian, Bill Fahrner, Lanie Hansen, Matthew Hutchens, G. Scott Kaufman, Amy Lyn MacDonald, Dave Miailovich, John Nockels, Lisa Peers, Michael Temlin, Richard Wenzel, Kit Wilder and Illana Zauderer.

The CD of Leave It To Me! will be recorded with a small orchestra during the third week of the show's run, and should be in stores by March. (The first 42nd Street Moon CD, Cole Porter's Something for the Boys, is currently on store shelves and is also available at Amazon.com.)