 MY ONE AND ONLY
Music and Lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin: Book by Peter
Stone and Timothy S. Mayer
St James Theatre, Broadway 1 May, 1983 (767 perfs)
Synopsis
Captain Billy Buck Chandler is determined to be the first man in
history to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. His mission is somewhat
side-tracked when at a railroad station, he first sees Edith Herbert.
She is ex-channel swimmer and current star attraction of Prince Nicolai
Erraclyovitch Tchatchavadze's International Aquacade. Billy's female
mechanic, who is in secretly in love with him, is upset to find that
Billy dreams of Edith. Edith, meanwhile, dreams of romance.
Billy is determined to meet Edith and win her and to this end he
takes a crash course in sophistication at Mr Magix's Tonsorial and
Sartorial Emporial where the urbane, and all-knowing, Mr. Magix tells
Billy what the business of sophistication is all about.
The owner of the Aquacade, Prince Nikki is determined that he shall
not loose his star attraction. He keeps a tight reign on her. He
has in his possession certain compromising photographs with which
he blackmails Edith into staying with the show.
Arranging to run into Edith "accidentally" at the cinema
where she often goes to fantasise Billy and Edith fall in love.
Seeing Billy as her only hope of escaping the clutches of Prince
Nikki, Edith persuades Billy to fly her to Cuba. Nikki finds out
about her plan and sabotages the 'plane which comes down on a seemingly
deserted island which they quickly turn into a paradise. But Nikki
is determined not to lose his star and comes and finds them. He forces
Edith to go back to the Aquacade by threatening to reveal her past.
Billy, left alone, bitterly returns to the only dream left him -
his flight to Paris - and the fame he will achieve.
Life at the Aquacade goes on but Edith is despondent and again decides
to run away.
Billy, however, is unable to forget Edith. He returns to Mr Magix
for fresh advice - what should he do now? Mr Magix tells him that
only love matters and this should give him the strength with which
to achieve his dreams.
Prince Nikki and Billy's female mechanic, Mickey, fall head-over-heels
in love with one another but Billy takes off in his plane, the Lone
Star, to search for his beloved Edith. He finds her in Morocco -
it was the location of the movie at which they first fell in love
- and persuades her to return with him to America and to get married.
This they do. After the ceremony, happiness is their's. Edith pauses
to wonder at it all. To the surprise of practically no one they will
live happily ever after.
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