 LADY IN THE DARK
A Musical Play in Two Acts, 7 Scenes. Music by Kurt
Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, book by Moss Hart
Alvin Theatre, New York, 23 January 1941 (467 perfs)
Playhouse, Nottingham, England, 9 December 1981
A film version was produced by Paramount in 1944
with Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland.
Synopsis
ACT I
Liza Elliott, editor of the fashion magazine Allure,
has come to consult Dr. Brooks, a psychiatrist. She insists she
is physically well and normal in her behaviour, but has been
suffering from seizures of depression and fatigue. Asked by Dr.
Brooks to describe anything that comes to mind, however insignificant,
Liza mentions a song learned in childhood, which now haunts her
continually in moments of terror because she cannot complete
it. She begins to hum the song's initial motif, and we are carried
for the first time into Liza's dream world. She is no longer
the conservatively dressed and prim editor but a radiant, red-haired
beauty to whom all pay homage. The scene melts away, and Dr.
Brooks points out that in this dream Liza sees herself as a glamorous
woman, unlike her appearance in real life. Another contradiction
is that while Liza tells other women how to be beautiful in her
magazine, she herself does not take advantage of this advice.
Back in Liza's office, a screen star, Randy Curtis, has come to
be photographed for the magazine. After he leaves, Kendall Nesbitt,
publisher of Allure and Liza's lover, arrives to inform her that
his wife has finally agreed to divorce him and that they will soon
be free to marry. This news does not have the expected exhilarating
effect on Liza. On the contrary, she feels depressed and faint.
Dismissing Kendall abruptly, she locks the door and falls wearily
on a couch. Suddenly she begins to hum the child's tune, and drifts
into another dream. In the dream which starts in her girlhood,
she is going to marry Kendall Nesbitt, but Randy Curtis intervenes
with a passionate declaration of love. In her indecision, she recalls
a school play and suddenly the wedding ceremony degenerates into
a nightmare.
At her next session with Dr. Brooks, Liza reveals that her preference
for simple clothes dates from early childhood. She says she has
a dinner date with Randy which she intends to break. Dr. Brooks
points out that her fetish for plainness is a refusal to compete
with other women, and that her dread of marriage comes from the
fear of having Kendall all to herself. These revelations so anger
Liza hat she rushes impetuously out of the office. The next morning
Liza comes late to her office, where a new issue of Allure is going
to press. When Kendall enters, she tells him she does not want
to marry him. She is also abrupt with her advertising manager,
Charley Johnson, who, because Liza is
"married to her desk", has no chance for advancement
and is leaving. Randy comes to take her to dinner. She had forgotten
she had made this date, but decides to dress elegantly for the
first time and join Randy for a night on the town.
ACT II
Liza is in her office the following afternoon, where she cannot
decide whether the cover design for the next issue will be a standard
Easter cover or a circus scene. Magically the circus scene comes
to life, with Russell Paxton, the photographer of Allure, as the
ringmaster. The main event is a trial in which Liza is tried for
her inability to make up her mind. Kendall Nesbitt gives evidence,
there is an irrelevant but hilarious interruption and finally Liza
tries to defend herself, but in vain.
That evening, Liza returns to Dr. Brooks and tells him that she
has experienced once again the hurt and humiliation of her childhood.
As she talks, Liza is carried back to the times when she was made
to feel unattractive by her father, then scorned by her "prince" in
a school play, and finally abandoned by her beau at the high school
prom. Dr. Brooks emphasises that Liza, having lost a succession
of boyfriends, sought refuge in being plain; that as a woman she
has been denying herself this form of feminine identity. The lifting
of the mental block brings release and she sings for the first
time in its entirety the haunting song she has been trying to remember.
One week later at the office, Liza is in better spirits than she
has been in months, and Randy urges her to marry him. She has the
strength he needs, he confesses, since he himself is actually weak.
Liza asks for time to think this proposal over, when Charley enters
to say goodbye. For the first time Liza recognises a salient truth
that has so long been eluding her: it is Charley that she loves.
She asks him to stay and share the stewardship of the magazine.
|
Instrumentation:
flute db. piccolo, Reed I (clarinet, alto sax), Reed II (clarinet,
bass clarinet, alto sax, baritone sax), Reed III (clarinet, oboe,
tenor sax), 3 trumpets, trombone, percussion, piano, organ or
harmonium, 2 violins, 2 celli, bass
Discography
Various Original
cast recordings:
|
