The Girl Friend is a musical comedy with music by Richard Rodgers

Richard Rodgers

Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...

, lyrics by Lorenz Hart

Lorenz Hart

Lorenz "Larry" Milton Hart was the lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart...

 and book by Herbert Fields

Herbert Fields

Herbert Fields was an American librettist and screenwriter.Born in New York City, Fields began his career as an actor, then graduated to choreography and stage direction before turning to writing. From 1925 until his death, he contributed to the libretti of many Broadway musicals...

. This was the longest running show to date for the trio.

Production

The Girl Friend 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...

 at the Vanderbilt Theatre

Vanderbilt Theatre

The Vanderbilt Theatre was a New York City Broadway theatre, designed by architect Eugene De Rosa for producer Lyle Andrews. It opened in 1918, located at 148 West 48th Street. The theatre was demolished in 1954....

 on March 17, 1926 and closed on December 27, 1926 after 301 performances. Produced by Lew Fields

Lew Fields

Lew Fields , born as Moses Schoenfeld, was an American actor, comedian, vaudeville star, theatre manager and producer....

 (Herbert's father), staged by John Harwood with musical staging by Jack Haskell, the cast starred Sammy White

Sammy White (actor)

Sammy White was an American vaudeville song-and-dance comedian who appeared in a few films. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He appeared with Lew Clayton, as Clayton and White, in the Broadway show Schubert Gaieties of 1919.With his first wife, Eva Puck, White appeared in vaudeville as...

, Eva Puck

Eva Puck

Eva Puck was a vaudeville headliner who later found success performing in Broadway musical comedies.-Early Life:...

 and June Cochrane.

Plot

A cyclist trains on a wheel connected to a butter churn on his dairy farm. He is in love with the daughter of a professional cyclist. He is urged to enter a six-day race by questionable cycling promoter. Various gamblers try to cause him to lose, but he wins the race and the girl. White and Puck were married and well-known 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...

 performers of the time.

Songs

Act 1

• Hey! Hey!
• The Simple Life
• The Girl Friend
• Goodbye, Lenny
• Blue Room
  Blue Room (song)
  "Blue Room" is a show tune from the 1926 Rodgers and Hart musical The Girl Friend, where it was introduced by Eva Puck and Sammy White.-Early recordings:...
  
  
• Cabarets
• Why Do I?
• The Damsel Who Done All the Dirt
• He's a Winner
• Town Hall Tonight
• Good Fellow, Mine

Act 2

• Creole Cooning Song
• I'd Like to Take You Home
• What Is It?

Critical response

Reviewers praised the humor, dancing, and the "captivating music." The New York American reviewer wrote: "This WAS music, instead of molasses. There was a ditty called 'The Blue Room' which should be sung to exhaustion".

External links

• Internet Broadway Database listing
• Overview of show, lorenzhart.org