Of Thee I Sing

Of Thee I Sing is a musical with a score by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. The musical lampoons American politics; the story concerns John P. Wintergreen, who runs for President of the United States on the "love" platform. When he falls in love with the sensible Mary Turner instead of Diana Devereaux, the beautiful pageant winner selected for him, he gets into political hot water.

Background

The Gershwins and George S. Kaufman had collaborated on the satirical 1927 musical Strike up the Band, which played in Philadelphia. The show concerned a cheese manufacturer who sponsors a war against Switzerland because it will be named after him. The writers and the cast were unsure of what the public's reception would be, prompting Kaufman's now-famous remark "Satire is what closes on Saturday night."

!US National Tour

!Broadway Return Engagment

!Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera Production

!Broadway Revival

!Off-Broadway Revival

!CBS Television Production

!Berkshire Theatre Festival Production

!New York Concert Production

!Reprise Theatre Company Production

!Paper Mill Playhouse Production

!Encores! Production

!MasterVoices Concert at Carnegie Hall

!1931-1933

!1932

!1933

!1948

!1952

!1969

!1972

!1976

!1987

!1998

!2004

!2006

!2017

|John P. Wintergreen

|William Gaxton

|Oscar Shaw

|William Gaxton

|Wilbur Evans

|Jack Carson

|Hal Holden

|Carroll O'Connor

|Sam Freed

|Larry Kert

|Gregory Harrison

|Ron Bohmer

|Victor Garber

|Bryce Pinkham

|Mary Turner

|Lois Moran

|colspan="2"| Harriette Lake

|Gloria Hamilton

|Betty Oakes

|Joy Franz

|Cloris Leachman

|Jackie Cronin

|colspan="2"| Maureen McGovern

|Garrett Long

|Jennifer Laura Thompson

|Denée Benton

|Diana Devereaux

|Grace Brinkley

|Roberta Robinson

|Betty Allen

|Audrey Johnston

|Lenore Lonergan

|Katie Anders

|Michele Lee

|Katie Anders

|Paige O'Hara

|Heather Lee

|Sarah Knowlton

|Jenny Powers

|Elizabeth Stanley

|Alexander Throttlebottom

|Victor Moore

|Donald Meek

|Victor Moore

|William Lynn

|Paul Hartman

|Lloyd Hubbard

|Jack Gilford

|Ed Preble

|Jack Gilford

|Charlie Dell

|Wally Dunn

|Jefferson Mays

|Kevin Chamberlin

|Senator Robert F. Lyons

|George E. Mack

|Francis Pierlot

|George E. Mack

|Walter Burke

|Donald Foster

|Edward Penn

|Jim Backus

|Hansford Rowe

|Walter Hook

|Hal Blankenship

|Jonathan Freeman

|Senator Carver Jones

|Edward H. Robins

|J. English Smith

|Howard Freeman

|John Aman

|Mark Zimmerman

|Herndon Lackey

|Erick Devine

|Matthew Arnold Fulton

|Dudley Clements

|Cecil Lean

|Dudley Clements

|Edmund Dorsay

|Loring Smith

|William Martel

|Jesse White

|Edward Holmes

|Raymond Thorne

|Lenny Wolpe

|Richard Poe

|Michael Mulheren

|Chuck Cooper

|Louis Lippman

|Sam Mann

|colspan="2"| Abe Reynolds

|Lewis Charles

|Robert F. Simon

|Herb Edelman

|James Hilbrandt

|Merwin Goldsmith

|Gus Corrado

|Adam Grupper

|Lewis J. Stalden

|Brad Oscar

|The French Ambassador

|Florenz Ames

|Adrian Rosley

|Florenz Ames

|Le Roi Operti

|Florenz Ames

|Larry Whiteley

|Paul Nixon

|Jack Dabdoub

|Jason Graae

|Fred Berman

|colspan="2"| David Pittu

|Francis X. Gilhooney

|Harold Moffet

|Willam J. Pringle

|Harold Moffet

|Gordon Dilworth

|J. Pat O'Malley

|Sandy Sprung

|David Doyle

|Douglas Fisher

|Frank Kopyc

|Craig Wasson

|Nick Corley

|Wayne Duvall

|Fred Applegate

|Sam Jenkins

|George Murphy

|Al Sexton

|George Murphy

|Walter Long

|Jonathan Lucas

|Danny Franklin

|Garrett Lewis

|Steven Gelfor

|George Dvorsky

|Jason Ma

|Sean Palmer

|Jeffry Denman

|Rhett Guter

Songs

;Act I

Wintergreen for President* – Ensemble
Who is the Lucky Girl to Be? – Diana Devereaux and Ensemble
The Dimple on My Knee – Diana, Sam Jenkins and Ensemble
Because, Because – Diana, Sam and Ensemble
As the Chairman of the Committee – Matthew Arnold Fulton and Company
How Beautiful – Company
Never Was There a Girl So Fair – Company
Some Girls Can Bake a Pie – John P. Wintergreen, Mary Turner and Company
Love is Sweeping the Country – Sam, Emily Benson and Ensemble
Of Thee I Sing – Wintergreen, Mary and Company
Here's a Kiss for Cinderella – Wintergreen and Ensemble
I Was the Most Beautiful Blossom – Diana
Some Girls Can Bake a Pie (Reprise) – Wintergreen, Diana, Judges and Ensemble

;Act II

Hello, Good Morning – Sam, Emily and Secretaries
Who Cares? – Wintergreen, Mary and Reporters
Garçon, S'il Vous Plaît** – French Soldiers
The Illegitimate Daughter – The French Ambassador and Ensemble
We'll Impeach Him – Senator Robert E. Lyons, Francis X. Gilhooley and Ensemble
Who Cares? (Reprise) – Wintergreen and Mary
The (Senatorial) Roll Call – Alexander Throttlebottom and Ensemble
Jilted – Diana and Company
Who Could Ask for Anything More? – Mary and Company
Posterity – Wintergreen and Company
Trumpeter, Blow Your Horn – Ensemble
Finale – Company

:<nowiki>*</nowiki>The campaign song "Wintergreen for President" includes parts of folk and patriotic songs such as Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever" and "Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here". The song has been adopted by the Harvard University Band as a pep song, and it is traditionally played at Harvard football games.

:<nowiki>**</nowiki>The music introducing the French and their ambassador includes the opening bars of Gershwin's own "An American in Paris".

Musical and dramatic analysis

Of Thee I Sing was the most musically sophisticated of the Gershwin shows up to then, inspired by the works of Gilbert and Sullivan Ira Gershwin explained, "In the show there are no verse-and-chorus songs; there is a sort of recitative running along, and lots of finales and finalettos."

Of Thee I Sing was the first American musical with a consistently satirical tone. It was Gaxton and Moore's first comedic pairing; they would collaborate on six more Broadway musicals, including Anything Goes. The musical was presented in 1990 by the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players and in 2004 the Paper Mill Playhouse revived the work in a new staging by Tina Landau that was partly a satire of the 2004 United States presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and John Kerry with Tom Helm as the production's music director. It starred Ron Bohmer as Wintergreen and Garrett Long as Mary.

In May 2006 Of Thee I Sing was staged as part of the New York City Center Encores! concert series. Directed by John Rando and choreographed by Randy Skinner, the cast starred Victor Garber as Wintergreen, Jefferson Mays as Throttlebottom, and Jennifer Laura Thompson as First Lady. It was revived in July 2015 at the Royal Festival Hall, London, by producer Ollie Rosenblatt as a full musical with orchestra. Devereaux was played by Hannah Waddingham, Wintergreen by Hadley Fraser, and Throttlebottom by Tom Edden. The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra provided a new orchestration for the piece. In September 2015 the Sqabbalogic theatre company and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs presented the musical in the Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House.

Adaptations

A television version was produced in 1972 by CBS, mostly starring actors then appearing in CBS series, including Carroll O'Connor as President Wintergreen. A National Radio Theater version starring John Cullum was broadcast by NPR in 1984 and the BBC in 1984 and 1992.

In the 1930s, the Marx Brothers had intended to produce a film adaptation of the musical, but they decided to make Duck Soup instead. Many scholars draw parallels between Of Thee I Sing and Duck Soup, suggesting that the musical helped provide inspiration for that Marx Brothers classic.

A musical sequel to Of Thee I Sing was written by the same team: Let 'Em Eat Cake was produced on Broadway in 1933, reusing some of the music from its predecessor. However, the sequel was a critical and box-office failure. Let 'Em Eat Cake marked the last Broadway musical written by the Gershwins (counting Porgy and Bess as an opera rather than a musical).

Critical reception

Brooks Atkinson in the New York Times called the musical "a brisk musical comedy", writing that "There is dancing, both routine and inventive. There are lyrics done in Ira Gershwin's neatest style...Best of all, there is Mr. Gershwin's score. Whether it is satire, wit, doggerel or fantasy, Mr. Gershwin pours music out in full measure and in many voices. Although the book is lively, Mr. Gershwin is exuberant."

In 1932, Of Thee I Sing became the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama. The 1932 Pulitzer Prize Committee stated, "Of Thee I Sing is not only coherent and well-knit enough to class as a play, but it is a biting and true satire on American politics and the public attitude towards them.... The play is genuine and it is felt the Pulitzer Prize could not serve a better purpose than to recognize such work.