Roberta (1933)

This production of Roberta
is dedicated to the memory of
Betty Kern Miller
1918-1936

Music by Jerome Kern
Book and Lyrics by Otto Harbach

Directed by Greg MacKellan
Musical Director: David Dubrovsky

Playbill Notes

Roberta opened on Broadway at the legendary New Amsterdam Theatre in November 1933. Producer Max Gordon gave the show a state-of-the-art production: The director was Broadway's best, Hassard Short, and the cast featured Tamara, Ray Middleton, George Murphy and turn-of-the century diva Fay Templeton in her final appearance as "Aunt Minnie." Also featured were two relative newcomers -- Bob Hope, who brought his vaudeville tricks, amiable singing voice and droll comedy to the role of Huck, and Lyda Roberti, a Polish singer-actress whose adorably wacky performing style made her "Broadway's Preferred Polish Blonde" and whose performance in the custom-tailored role of Clementina Scharwenka was a musical comedy star-turn of the first order.

Although there was much debate by critics as to the merits of Harbach's book, there was universal praise for the beautiful and imaginative score. In fact, Roberta was the latest in a string of remarkable musicals written by Jerome Kern: Showboat, Sweet Adeline and Music in the Air (written with Oscar Hammerstein II) and The Cat and the Fiddle (written -- as was Roberta - with Otto Harbach). While Show Boat and Sweet Adeline had focused on by-gone eras and was intended as a sleek and sophisticated modern musical comedy. (While remarking on the many gorgeous ballads in the show, several critics also noted that two songs -- "Something Had to Happen" and I'll be "Hard to Handle"-- represented Kern's most notable attempt to write in the "swing" style he had resisted for so long.)

The show ran for a year on Broadway and, while one company toured the nation, a West Coast company sat down for long runs in Los Angeles and San Francisco. In 1935, the movie version, starring Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, opened to great success. By the end of the decade, Roberta was acknowledged as one of the most successful musicals of the thirties, and the score had yielded no less than five "standards" -- "You're Devastating," "Yesterdays," "The Touch of Your Hand," "I'll be Hard to Handle," and, of course, "Smoke Gets in your Eyes." (The film version added one more number to that tally -- "Lovely to Look At.")

Roberta was frequently revived throughout the forties and fifties, but concerns about the book (and a general disregard for almost any musical pre-dating Okalahoma!) led to fewer and fewer productions. In 1985, Bill Tynes' New Amsterdam Theatre Company presented a staged concert version in New York featuring David Carroll, Judy Blazer, Loni Ackerman and Paula Laurence, and the acclaim for the score led to several productions during the eighties.

Roberta is, in fact, our most-requested show, and we are delighted to finally bring this exquisite score to 42nd Street Moon's audiences. In preparing this concert production, the book has been revised to include such material from the highly acclaimed screenplay for the film. The score is presented intact with the addition of "Lovely to Look At" from the film score and "Armful of Trouble," a song which, although a personal favorite of Kern's, had originally been dropped on the road.

We would like to dedicate this production to the memory of Betty Kern Miller, Jerome Kern's daughter, who passed away in March. Although Mrs. Miller carefully guarded her father's legacy, she was particularly helpful and supportive of 42nd Street Moon's efforts to present some of the lesser-known Kern musicals (it was through her interceding with Tams-Witmark that we were able to present Sweet Adeline). Frail health prevented her from seeing any of the 42nd Street Moon productions, but she followed the reviews and articles about these shows eagerly. She will be greatly missed.

Plot Summary

The story concerns John Kent, a star college football player, who inherits his aunt’s dress shop in Paris. After moving to Paris to run the shop, John falls in love with his assistant, Stephanie – who turns out to be a Russian princess.

Press Release

SAN FRANCISCO (7 October 1996) -- Roberta, the show that launched Bob Hope on Broadway in 1933 and had Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers leaping for joy on film, will be brought back to the stage in concert version by 42nd Street Moon's Lost Musical Series, October 31 - November 17 (Preview: October 30), at the New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco. Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach's classic score highlights this ultra-sophisticated and amusing tale of an American college football player who inherits a Parisian dress salon. 42nd Street Moon co-producer Greg MacKellan will direct; Michael Horsley will provide musical direction.

Adapted from Alice Duer Miller's book Gowns for Roberta, Jerome Kern's musical comedy Roberta opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on November 18, 1933. "Filled with the best material the American musical-comedy stage can offer," raved the New York Mirror, "Kern's score is perfection. You will not hear more beautiful music anywhere." In a casting coup, producer Max Gordon lured Broadway's turn-of-the-century prima donna, Fay Templeton, out of retirement for the show, and brought in Tamara and Lyda Roberti in the starring roles, with Fred MacMurray, George Murphy, and then little-known vaudeville comic Bob Hope in support.

Roberta ran for a year in New York, chalking up 295 performances, and was followed by a successful road tour. Presented by a coast company playing between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the show broke records for its steady audience and length of run. In 1934, Roberta found Hollywood, and became a hugely popular film starring Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, and Ginger Rogers.

Considered one of Jerome Kern's greatest scores, Roberta is studded with musical gems including "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," "Lovely to Look At," "Yesterdays," "I'll be Hard to Handle," and "The Touch of Your Hand." The Herald Tribune cited Roberta as "the latest and one of the best examples of a show profiting immeasurably by a sudden outburst of public whistling, humming and crooning of its score," adding that "'Smoke Gets in Your Eyes' has swept the dance floors, radio stations, and glee clubs of the country."

The plot of Roberta follows all-American football hero John Kent and his adventures surrounding a fashionable Parisian dress-making establishment owned by his Aunt Minnie, who runs the shop under the name of Roberta. When Kent and his debutante girlfriend, Sophie Teale, quarrel and separate, John visits his aunt in Paris. Soon after, she dies, leaving him to run the shop with Minnie's assistant, Stephanie. This hilarious, complicated venture is highlighted by successes, failures, and, ultimately, love for the young American player.

42nd Street Moon co-producer Stephanie Rhoads stars as the exiled Russian Princess, Stephanie, with Simon Relph making his 42nd Street Moon debut as American football star, John Kent. Her second Russian character role with 42nd Street Moon, Rhoads was seen earlier this season as Ninotchka in Silk Stockings and performed with 42nd Street Moon's recent cabaret revue, Something Sort of Grandish. Simon Relph has been seen as Sky Masterson in the Peninsula Civic Light Opera's Guys and Dolls and as El Gallo in The Fantastics at Hillbarn Theater.

Beach Blanket Babylon alumna Meg Mackay steps into the role of the tempestuous Polish cafe singer, Scharwenka. A San Francisco favorite, Mackay has been seen nationally in the touring company of Torch Song Trilogy and locally in She Loves Me, in And What, Give Up Showbiz? and in her acclaimed cabaret act with husband Billy Philadelphia.

Bill Fahrner, seen in Goodtime Charley, Silk Stockings, and the cabaret revue Something Sort of Grandish, takes the Bob Hope role of Huck Haines. Caroline Altman (Goodtime Charley) will play Sophie Teale, with 42nd Street Moon newcomer Kenneth Koppes, seen as Mendel in American Musical Theatre's Fiddler on the Roof, as Billy. Rounding out the cast will be Lois Saunders as Aunt Minnie, Catherine Sheldon as Charlotte Teale, Burr Nissen as Lord Henry, Jaxy Boyd as Anna, Joe Kinyon as Neil, Len Moors as Alan, Paula Sonenberg as Luella, Bruce Thompson as Ladislaw, and Sean Sharp as Blaine.

Roberta Musical Numbers

* The lyric to I'll be Hard to Handle is by Otto Harbach's nephew, Bernard Dougall. The lyrics to Lovely to Look At and the Act Two reprise of I'll be Hard to Handle are by Dorothy Fields. The lyric revision to Yesterdays used in this production was written by Otto Harbach for the 1935 film of Roberta. The routine of Don't Ask Me Not to Sing -- featuring imitations of popular singing stars of the day -- is based on the original Broadway presentation of the song.