Animal Crackers is a musical

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...

 with music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar

Bert Kalmar

Bert Kalmar was a Jewish American lyricist.He was born in New York, New York. He ran away from home at the age of 10 to become a magician at a tent show, and retained an interest in magic all his life. He never got much of an education, but decided to make a career in show business...

 and Harry Ruby

Harry Ruby

Harry Ruby was a Jewish American songwriter and screenwriter.After failing in his early ambition to become a professional baseball player,...

 and a book by George S. Kaufman

George S. Kaufman

George Simon Kaufman was an American playwright, theatre director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. In addition to comedies and political satire, he wrote several musicals, notably for the Marx Brothers...

 and Morrie Ryskind

Morrie Ryskind

Morrie Ryskind was an American dramatist, lyricist and writer of theatrical productions and motion pictures, who became a conservative political activist later in life.-Biography:...

. The musical starred the Marx Brothers

Marx Brothers

The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...

.

Productions and background

Animal Crackers opened 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...

 on October 23, 1928 at the original 44th Street Theatre

44th Street Theatre

The 44th Street Theatre was a New York City Broadway theatre from 1912 to 1945 in the United States of America. It was located on Broadway, at West 44th Street. Architect was William A. Swansea. Built by the Shuberts, and first named Weber and Fields' Music Hall, its name was changed when the...

, and ran for 191 performances and then toured. The 44th Street Theatre was demolished in 1945. The musical was produced by Sam H. Harris

Sam Harris (playwright)

Sam H. Harris was a Broadway producer and theater owner.-Career:After a stint as a cough drop salesman and boxing manager, Harris's first production was Theodore Kremer's The Evil That Men Do co-produced with Al Woods in 1903. Harris found success in 1904 as the producing partner of George M...

, staged by Oscar Eagle, and starred the four Marx Brothers

Marx Brothers

The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...

 and Margaret Dumont

Margaret Dumont

Margaret Dumont was an American comedic actress. She is remembered mostly for being the comic foil to Groucho Marx in seven of the Marx Brothers films...

 in the Brothers' second Broadway hit. Hermes Pan

Hermes Pan (choreographer)

Hermes Pan was an American dancer and choreographer, principally celebrated as Fred Astaire's choreographic collaborator on the famous 1930s movie musicals starring Astaire and Ginger Rogers.-Early life:...

 appeared as a chorus boy.

The musical was filmed in 1930

Animal Crackers (film)

Animal Crackers is a 1930 American comedy film, in which mayhem and zaniness ensue when a valuable painting goes missing during a party in honor of famed African explorer Captain Spaulding. The film was both a critical and commercial success upon initial release, and remains one of the Marx...

 with the principal leads repeating their roles from the stage production.

The musical was revived in 1982 at the Arena Stage

Arena Stage

Arena Stage is a not-for-profit regional theater based in Southwest Washington, D.C. Its declared mission"is to produce huge plays of all that is passionate, exuberant, profound, deep and dangerous in the American spirit. Arena has broad shoulders and a capacity to produce anything from vast epics...

, Washington, D.C., directed by Douglas C. Wager and choreographed by Baayork Lee

Baayork Lee

Baayork Lee is an Asian-American actress, singer, dancer, choreographer, theatre director, and author.-Early life and career:Lee was born in New York City's Chinatown to an Indian mother and Chinese father...

.

It was also revived in 1992 by Goodspeed Musicals

Goodspeed Musicals

Goodspeed Musicals, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and advancement of musical theater and the creation of new works, was formed in 1959 to restore the Goodspeed Opera House, located in East Haddam, Connecticut, to its original Victorian appearance. Each year, Goodspeed...

, Connecticut and in 1993 at the Paper Mill Playhouse

Paper Mill Playhouse

Paper Mill Playhouse is a regional theatre with approximately 1200 seats, located in Millburn, New Jersey, less than 25 miles from Manhattan. Due to its location, it can draw from the pool of actors who live in New York City. Its location, as well as its focus on producing large-scale shows, makes...

, New Jersey.

It was produced 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...

 at the Lyric Theatre

Lyric Theatre (London)

The Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster.Designed by architect C. J. Phipps, it was built by producer Henry Leslie with profits from the Alfred Cellier and B. C. Stephenson hit, Dorothy, which he transferred from the Prince of Wales Theatre to open...

, opening on March 16, 1999, and closing on May 15, 1999 after touring in the UK. Starring were Ben Keaton (Spaulding), Toby Sedgwick

Toby Sedgwick

Toby Sedgwick is a British movement director, actor, and theatre choreographer. He achieved critical acclaim for providing "horse choreography" for War Horse, currently playing at West End's New London Theatre and Broadway's Vivian Beaumont Theatre...

 (the Professor), Joseph Alessi (Emanuel Ravelli), and Jean Challis (Mrs Rittenhouse).

Animal Crackers was produced to open the 2009-2010 season at the Goodman Theatre

Goodman Theatre

The Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of Chicago theatre, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization...

 in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, opening September 18, 2009, and closing on November 1. The revival starred Joey Slotnick

Joey Slotnick

Joey Slotnick is an American film and television actor.-Biography:Slotnick was born in Chicago, Ill.His film roles include computer industry pioneer Steve Wozniak in the film Pirates of Silicon Valley, and a part in the 1996 blockbuster Twister...

 (Spaulding), Molly Brennan (the Professor), Jonathan Brody (Emanuel Ravelli), and Ora Jones (Mrs. Rittenhouse). In addition, with a cast of only nine, several of the roles were doubled up by actors.

Animal Crackers also ran from May 6, 2011 to June 4, 2011 at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston.

After The Cocoanuts

The Cocoanuts (musical)

The Cocoanuts is a musical with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin and a book by George S. Kaufman, with additional text by Morrie Ryskind.-Background:...

ran for almost three years at the Lyric Theatre

Lyric Theatre (New York)

The Lyric Theatre was a prominent Broadway theatre built in 1903 in Manhattan, New York City in the 42nd Street Theatre District. It had two entrances, one at 213 West 42nd Street and another at 214-26 West 43rd Street and was one of the few New York houses that had two formal entrances. In 1934,...

, the "anarchic" Animal Crackers became the third and last Broadway show for the Marx Brothers (I'll Say She Is

I'll Say She Is

I'll Say She Is is a stage revue written by brothers Will B. Johnstone and Tom Johnstone and starring the Marx Brothers and Lotta Miles.-Background:...

was the first). It would be their last stage show, after which they focused on film. Vaudeville

Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...

's heyday was finishing, as talking movies were beginning to become popular. While the Marx Brothers performed in Animal Crackers in the evenings, they were busy during the day filming The Cocoanuts

The Cocoanuts

The Cocoanuts is the first feature-length Marx Brothers film, produced by Paramount Pictures. The musical comedy stars the four Marx Brothers, Oscar Shaw, Mary Eaton, and Margaret Dumont. Produced by Walter Wanger and the first sound movie to credit more than one director , and was adapted to the...

at Paramount's Astoria Studios

Kaufman Astoria Studios

The Kaufman Astoria Studios is an historic movie studio located in the Astoria section of the New York City borough of Queens.-History:It was originally built by Famous Players-Lasky in 1920 to provide the company with a facility close to the Broadway theater district. Many features and short...

 in Astoria, Queens

Astoria, Queens

Astoria is a neighborhood in the northwestern corner of the borough of Queens in New York City. Located in Community Board 1, Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Sunnyside , and Woodside...

.

Song list

Act I

• Opening

Hives and Dancers

The Maids — The Sixteen Markert Dancers

The Guests — Ensemble

• "News" — Wally Winston and the Sixteen Markert Dancers
• "Hooray for Captain Spaulding
  Hooray for Captain Spaulding
  "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" is a song, originally from the 1928 Marx Brothers stage musical Animal Crackers and the 1930 film version. It later became well known as the theme song for the Groucho Marx television show You Bet Your Life ....
  
  " — Hives, Jamison, Mrs. Rittenhouse, Captain Spaulding and Ensemble
• "Who's Been Listening to My Heart" — Mary and John
• "The Long Island Low-Down" — Wally Winston and Grace
• "Go Places and Do Things" — Ensemble
• Dance
• "Watching the Clouds Roll By" — Mary and John
• Piano speciality — Emanuel Ravelli

Act II

• "When Things Are Bright and Rosy" — Wally Winston and Arabella
• Reprise — Mary and John
• "Cool Off" — Grace and Ensemble
• The Royal Filipino Band
• Harp speciality — The Professor
• "Four of the Three Musketeers" — Spaulding, Jamison, Ravelli, Professor
• Finale — Company

• "Three Little Words
  Three Little Words (song)
  "Three Little Words" is a popular song with music by Harry Ruby and the lyrics by Bert Kalmar, published in 1930.The Rhythm Boys, accompanied by the Duke Ellington orchestra, sang it in the Amos 'n' Andy film Check and Double Check. It also figured prominently in the film of the same name, a biopic...
  
  " † ‡
• "Oh By Jingo!
  Oh By Jingo!
  "Oh By Jingo!" is a 1919 novelty song by Albert Von Tilzer with lyrics by Lew Brown.The song was featured in the Broadway show "Linger Longer Letty", and became one of the biggest Tin Pan Alley hits of the post-World War I era....
  
  " (by Lew Brown and Albert von Tilzer)†
• "Show Me a Rose" ‡
• "The Social Ladder" †
• "I Wanna Be Loved by You
  I Wanna Be Loved by You
  "I Wanna Be Loved by You" is a song written by Herbert Stothart and Harry Ruby, with lyrics by Bert Kalmar, for the 1928 musical "Good Boy". It was chosen as one of the Songs of the Century in a survey made by the RIAA in which 200 people responded...
  
  " ††
• "Nevertheless (I'm in Love with You)" ††
• "The Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me" †††
• "Everyone Says I Love You" †††

† added for Goodspeed production

‡ added for Arena Stage and Paper Mill productions

†† added for Paper Mill production

††† added for the Goodman production

Original 1928-9 Broadway cast

Character	Actor
Hives	Robert Greig*
Mrs. Rittenhouse	Margaret Dumont Margaret Dumont Margaret Dumont was an American comedic actress. She is remembered mostly for being the comic foil to Groucho Marx in seven of the Marx Brothers films... *
Arabella Rittenhouse	Alice Wood
Roscoe W. Chandler	Louis Sorin Louis Sorin Louis Sorin was an American actor.Louis Sorin was born and died in New York, New York. He appeared in 15 films between 1929 and 1961. He was also a prolific theatre actor, notably appearing on Broadway in more than 20 productions between 1923 and 1952Sorin is perhaps best known to modern... *
Wally Winston	Bert Mathews
Mrs. Whitehead	Margaret Irving*
Grace Carpenter	Bobbie Perkins
M. Doucet	Arthur Lipson
John Parker	Milton Watson
Mary Stewart	Bernice Ackerman
Horatio Jamison	Zeppo Marx Zeppo Marx Herbert Manfred "Zeppo" Marx was an American film star, musician, engineer, theatrical agent and businessman. He was the youngest of the five Marx Brothers. He appeared in the first five Marx Brothers feature films, from 1929 to 1933, but then left the act to start his second career as an... *
Jeffrey T. Spaulding	Groucho Marx Groucho Marx Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born... *
Emanuel Ravelli	Chico Marx Chico Marx Leonard "Chico" Marx was an American comedian and film star as part of the Marx Brothers. His persona in the act was that of a dim-witted albeit crafty con artist, seemingly of rural Italian origin, who wore shabby clothes, and sported a curly-haired wig and Tyrolean hat.As the first-born of the... *
The Professor	Harpo Marx Harpo Marx Adolph "Harpo" Marx was an American comedian and film star. He was the second oldest of the Marx Brothers. His comic style was influenced by clown and pantomime traditions. He wore a curly reddish wig, and never spoke during performances... *

*Reprised the role in the film adaptation.

External links

• FlyRope production information
• Goodman Theatre production information