 A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN
Musical in 2 acts, 21 Scenes; Music by Arthur Schwartz, Lyrics
by Dorothy Fields; Book by Bett Smith & George Abbott
Alvin Theatre, Broadway - April 19, 1951 (267 perfs)
SYNOPSIS
The action takes place in Brooklyn around the turn of the century.
ACT I
It's a Saturday night in Brooklyn at the turn of the century. The denizens
of a small neighbourhood under the Brooklyn Bridge rejoice at not having
to work again until Monday. The handsome young singing waiter Johnny Nolan
learns that he has been hired for a one-week gig, and he and his friends
celebrate by retrieving their prized possessions from the local pawnshop.
Johnny goes to meet his girlfriend Hildy, but he's captivated by Hildy's
best friend, Katie Rommely.
It is a few weeks later, and we are in the living room of Cissy, the
sister with whom Katie lives. Cissy is with her latest "common-law" husband,
whom she insists on calling Harry, after the first one, who left her
to return to his wife. Katie appears and admits to Cissy that her relationship
with Johnny, who has a reputation for drinking and not working steadily,
has grown serious. Johnny, now in the waiters' union and hired for
a six-month position, proposes to Katie and tells his cronies he intends
to become a different man. Johnny and Katie decide to get married in
a week, in spite of Cissy's warnings that Johnny may not be able to
reform so easily.
At Max's furniture store, Katie and Johnny are shopping for a bed. Johnny
has wasted the money allocated for the bed on a night of carousing, so
Katie must pay for it with the money she had put aside for her wedding
dress. But Katie is too happy to care.
The scene shifts to the modest flat of Johnny and Katie, who have been
married for a year; they have a month-old baby girl named Francie. Johnny,
drinking again, has been laid off, and Katie has been forced to become
janitor of their building. Cissy arrives. Her current Harry won't let
her adopt a child, so Cissy has decided to pretend she's pregnant; when
the baby she has arranged to take in is born, Cissy will claim it's her
own.
Months later, Cissy is "about to give birth" and tells her friends
that love and babies are what life is all about. A few hours later,
and with Johnny and Katie as accomplices, Cissy presents Harry with
what he thinks is their very own boy.
On the rooftop of the Nolans' tenement, the neighbours join in singing
a popular song of the day. Johnny returns after an unexplained absence
of two nights, and Katie tells Johnny that she's decided to leave him.
Johnny asks for one more chance and promises her things will be different.
ACT II
Twelve years have passed, and Francie is now thirteen. On a mild Hallowe'en
Eve, the neighbours take up the song of an old-clothes-man, while Cissy
prepares for a reunion with her first Harry, now a widower.
Johnny has been dropped by his union because of his chronic drinking.
Meanwhile, Francie, to whom Johnny is always a "shining prince," is
taking her first difficult steps into adolescence, and Johnny comforts
her. Cissy is gravely disappointed when she sees her first Harry again.
To make matters worse, her current Harry walks in on the reunion and
promptly walks out on Cissy.
Johnny, reduced to playing piano at a local brothel, wins a second-hand
piano for Francie in the house raffle. But when the proprietor won't let
him have it; a fight ensues, and he is thrown out into the street, where
he is tormented by local urchins and his own delirium. Francie tells her
mother she's thinking of quitting school and taking a job to help the
family. Johnny insists Francie stay in school so as not to wind up a failure
like him. Katie goes out to claim the piano; Johnny resolves to try again
and takes a job as a labourer working on the construction of a tunnel.
Cissy is reunited with her current Harry, and she informs him that she's
pregnant (and this time, it's true).
In the autumn, Johnny collapses at work and dies. The following June,
Francie graduates from the eighth grade, receiving the first diploma
in the family. Francie carries the flowers that Johnny paid for and
arranged for her to receive shortly before his death. At the graduation
block party, Francie has her first dance with a boy. Katie is without
a partner, but she holds Johnny's roses and Francie's diploma.
Ken
Mandelbaum
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