 MILK AND HONEY
Music and lyrics by Jerry Herman: Book by Don Appell
Martin Beck Theatre, Broadway - October 10, 1961 (543 perfs)
SYNOPSIS
ACT ONE
The calmness of a morning street scene in modern Jerusalem is
shattered when a policeman orders a Yemenite boy to remove his
flock of sheep to a side street. Phil Arkin, an American visiting
his married daughter, defends the boy, and in the ensuing fracas
he meets Ruth Stein, a tourist travelling with a group of widows
from the United States. She is impressed with Phil's command of
Hebrew as he explains the meaning of the word Shalom.
They keep running into each other and together they celebrate
Israel's Independence Day. Their friendship begins to deepen and
Phil's conscience starts troubling him. Although he has been separated
from his wife for many years, he does not think it right to continue
seeing Ruth since he is still a married man. Phil's daughter Barbara,
however, likes Ruth and invites her to go with them to the farm
that she and her husband own in the Negev. After some hesitation,
Ruth accepts.
On the farm - called a Moshav - Phil tries to talk Barbara and
David, her husband into going back to Baltimore with him. But the
young man vows his devotion to his country and is joined in its
praise by his neighbours, including his cynical friend Adi, who
claims he would rather live in the city.
Phil, who is falling in love with Ruth, asks her to stay at the
Moshav a little longer. In fact, he is even thinking of building
a house of his own there that he would like her to share.
Meanwhile, the group of touring widows comes to visit the Moshav.
When they eye the virile young farmers, the ladies, led by Clara
Weiss reveal their hopes of finding suitable husbands. Though their
dreams are quickly dashed when all the men turn out to be married,
Clara is still optimistic.
Later, Phil tells Ruth that he has bought the property for a home,
and she gives him her approval. But Barbara is shocked at the news,
and urges her father to tell Ruth about his marriage. Reluctantly
he does, but he also tells her why she must remain. At a wedding
ceremony that they attend Phil and Ruth, envious of the younger
people, express their deep love for each other and, forgetting
the consequences for the moment, go off together.
ACT TWO
Phil energetically feels the spirit of the new land and goes out
to work the fields with the other farmers. Barbara, however, brings
news that Ruth, realising the consequences of living with a married
man, has run away to Tel Aviv, and Phil goes off to bring her back.
When they are alone, David, convinced that Barbara really longs
to go back to the United States, asserts that he would go anywhere
to be with her.
In Tel Aviv, Phil finds Clara at the Cafe Hotok, but she refuses
to tell him where Ruth is. When he leaves, Clara accidentally meets
Sol Horowitz, a widower from Jerusalem, and they promptly show
mutual interest. Alone, she seeks her late husband's permission
to remarry if Sol proposes.
Back at the Moshav, Phil, after much inner conflict, realises
that it would be wrong to live with Ruth. Although she comes back
to him he tells her that she must leave.
At Lydda Airport, outside of Tel Aviv, the touring widows are
preparing to board the aeroplane home. Phil and Ruth have their
final, brief moment together during which he promises to fly to
Paris, where his wife lives, and plead for a divorce. Ruth boards
the plane with the hope that somehow Phil will succeed and she
will be able to come back to him. |
