Up in Central Park is a 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...

 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 a 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...

 and Dorothy Fields

Dorothy Fields

Dorothy Fields was an American librettist and lyricist.She wrote over 400 songs for Broadway musicals and films...

, lyrics by Dorothy Fields

Dorothy Fields

Dorothy Fields was an American librettist and lyricist.She wrote over 400 songs for Broadway musicals and films...

, and music by Sigmund Romberg

Sigmund Romberg

Sigmund Romberg was a Hungarian-born American composer, best known for his operettas.-Biography:Romberg was born as Siegmund Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Gross-Kanizsa during the Austro-Hungarian kaiserlich und königlich monarchy period...

. The musical was Romberg's last stage work produced during his lifetime.

Produced by Michael Todd

Michael Todd

Mike or Michael Todd may refer to:*Mike Todd , American film producer*Mike Todd, Jr. , son of American film producer Mike Todd and stepson to Elizabeth Taylor...

, the 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...

 production, staged by John Kennedy and choreographed by Helen Tamiris

Helen Tamiris

Helen Tamiris was an American choreographer, modern dancer, and teacher.-Biography:A founder of American Modern Dance, Tamiris originally trained in free movement at the Henry Street Settlement. She danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and the Bracale Opera Company before studying briefly...

, opened on January 27, 1945 at the Century Theatre

Century Theatre

The Century Theatre, originally the New Theatre, was a theater located at 62nd Street and Central Park West in New York City. Opened on November 6, 1909, it was noted for its fine architecture but due to poor acoustics and an inconvenient location it was financially unsuccessful...

, where it ran for 504 performances. Cast included Wilbur Evans

Wilbur Evans

Wilbur "Wib" Evans was an American actor and singer who performed on the radio, in opera, on Broadway, in films, and in early live television.-Biography:...

 and Betty Bruce.

The musical is set in the Boss Tweed

Boss Tweed

William Magear Tweed – often erroneously referred to as William Marcy Tweed , and widely known as "Boss" Tweed – was an American politician most notable for being the "boss" of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th century...

 era of New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 in the 1870s. Wilbur Evans plays John Matthews, a New York Times reporter investigating the Tweed’s crooked political machine

Political machine

A political machine is a political organization in which an authoritative boss or small group commands the support of a corps of supporters and businesses , who receive rewards for their efforts...

, especially the fraud connected with constructing Central Park

Central Park

Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...

.
He falls in love with the daughter of one of the Boss’ ward healers, who marries a politician, who is killed. She laters rekindles her love for Matthews. The settings, costumes and dances evoked the lithographs of Currier and Ives

Currier and Ives

Currier and Ives was a successful American printmaking firm headed by Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives . Based in New York City from 1834–1907, the prolific firm produced prints from paintings by fine artists as black and white lithographs that were hand colored...

.

Songs

Act I

• Up from the Gutter
• Carrousel in the Park
• It Doesn’t Cost You Anything to Dream
• Boss Tweed
• When She Walks in the Room
• Currier and Ives
• Close as Pages in a Book
• Rip Van Winkle
• The Fireman’s Bride

Act II

• When the Party Gives a Party
• Maypole Dance
• The Big Back Yard
• April Snow
• Finaletto
• The Birds and the Bees

Film version

In 1948 the musical was made into a film directed by William A. Seiter

William A. Seiter

William A. Seiter was an American film director. He was born in New York City. After attending Hudson River Military Academy, Seiter broke into films in 1915 as a bit player at Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios, doubling a cowboy...

 and starring Deanna Durbin

Deanna Durbin

Deanna Durbin is a Canadian-born, Southern California-raised retired singer and actress, who appeared in a number of musical films in the 1930s and 1940s singing standards as well as operatic arias....

, Dick Haymes

Dick Haymes

Richard Benjamin "Dick" Haymes was an Argentine actor and one of the most popular male vocalists of the 1940s and early 1950s. He was the older brother of Bob Haymes, who was an actor, television host, and songwriter....

 and Vincent Price

Vincent Price

Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...

. Mary Grant designed the film's costumes. The movie version omits much of the Broadway score and changes the story considerably. The film was not a success.

Recordings

Decca

Decca Records

Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....

 released an album of eight songs from the show with original cast members Wilbur Evans

Wilbur Evans

Wilbur "Wib" Evans was an American actor and singer who performed on the radio, in opera, on Broadway, in films, and in early live television.-Biography:...

 and Betty Bruce, along with the show orchestra conducted by Max Meth. Also appearing on the album are Eileen Farrell

Eileen Farrell

Eileen Farrell was an American soprano who had a nearly 60 year long career performing both classical and popular music in concerts, theatres, on radio and television, and on disc. While she was active as an opera singer, her concert engagements far outnumbered her theatrical appearances...

 and Celeste Holm

Celeste Holm

Celeste Holm is an American stage, film, and television actress, known for her Academy Award-winning performance in Gentleman's Agreement , as well as for her Oscar-nominated performances in Come to the Stable and All About Eve...

, who were not in the show.

RCA Victor put out an album with Jeanette MacDonald

Jeanette MacDonald

Jeanette MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy...

 and Robert Merrill

Robert Merrill

Robert Merrill was an American operatic baritone.-Early life:Merrill was born Moishe Miller, later known as Morris Miller, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, to tailor Abraham Miller, originally Milstein, and his wife Lillian, née Balaban, immigrants from Warsaw, Poland.His mother...

singing six selections from the score.