Summary
The City Chap is a musical comedy with music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Anne Caldwell and book by James Montgomery adapted from the play The Fortune Hunter by Winchell Smith.
| The City Chap (musical) | |
|---|---|
 Sheet Music Cover | |
| Music | Jerome Kern |
| Lyrics | Anne Caldwell |
| Book | James Montgomery |
| Basis | The Fortune Hunter by Winchell Smith |
| Productions | 1925 Broadway |
Production edit
The City Chap premiered on Broadway on October 26, 1925, at Liberty Theatre, and closed on December 26, 1925, after 72 performances. It was produced by Charles Dillingham, directed by R. H. Burnside, designed by James Reynold, choreographed by David Bennett, orchestrated by Robert Russell Bennett and conducted by Victor Baravalle. The Cast featured Richard Gallagher as Nat Duncan, Phyllis Cleveland as Betty, Ina Williams as Josie, Irene Dunne as Grace, and George Raft as George.[1]
In 1986 the show was given a concert production featuring the entire original score.[2]
Plot Summary edit
Nat Duncan, the City Chap, decides to forsake the hedonistic city lifestyle and become an upstanding citizen in a small, dull, town. He moves to Radford, NY, where he takes a job at Sam Graham's dilapidated drugstore, eventually transforming it through hard work into a successful, modern, tea-room, which features jazz and liquor. Nat intends to marry the rich Josie Lockwood, but realizes that he is really in love with Betty, Graham's daughter, and he proposes to her after all complications have been sorted out a party, thrown by his friend Grace, at Saratoga. [3]
Musical Numbers edit
- Act I
Scene One: Stephen Kellogg's Apartment; New York City
- Like the Nymphs of Spring - Chorus
- When I Fell In Love With You - Steve and Grace
- The Go-Getter - Steve, Grace, and Girls
- The Journey's End - Nat
- Finaletto Scene I - Ensemble
Scene Two: On a Train
- Sympathetic Someone - Betty and Nat
Scene Three: Graham's Drugstore, Radford
- The City Chap - Pete, Watty, Roland and Josie
- He is the Type - Josie, Betty and Girls
- Journey's End (Reprise) - Nat, Betty, Josie and Angie
- If You Are As Good As You Look - Nat, Josie and Angie
- The Tanglefoot - Josie, Chorus
- Finale Act I - Company
- Act II
Scene One: Graham's New Drugstore, Radford
- The Fountain of Youth - Company
- A Pill a Day - Roland and Josie
- Walking Home with Josie - Company
- No One Knows - Betty, Steve, Nat and Grace
- Saratoga - Chorus
Scene Two: Grace's Private Car Scene Three: Ballroom of Grace's House, Saratoga
- Specialty - Marjorie Moss and Georges Fontana
- Finale - Company
References edit
- ^ "The City Chap (Broadway, Liberty Theatre, 1925)". Playbill. Retrieved 2022-01-18.
- ^ upperco (2016-02-08). "Dancing Time: Kern in the '20s (IX)". THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT!. Retrieved 2022-01-18.
- ^ Dietz, Dan (2019). The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9781538112823.