| Gay Divorce | |
|---|---|
 Playbill from original Shubert Theater run | |
| Music | Cole Porter |
| Lyrics | Cole Porter |
| Book | Dwight Taylor Adapted by:Kenneth Webb andSamuel Hoffenstein |
| Basis | An unproduced play byJ. Hartley Manners |
| Productions | 1932Broadway 1933West End 1933Australian Tour |
Gay Divorce is amusical with music and lyrics byCole Porter and book by Dwight Taylor, adapted byKenneth Webb andSamuel Hoffenstein. It wasFred Astaire's lastBroadway show and featured the hit song "Night and Day" in which Astaire danced with co-starClaire Luce.
RKO Radio Pictures released afilm production of the musical in 1934, starring Astaire andGinger Rogers, renamedThe Gay Divorcee.
Guy Holden, an American writer traveling in England, falls madly in love with a woman named Mimi, who disappears after their first encounter. To take his mind off his lost love, his friend Teddy Egbert, a British attorney, takes him toBrighton, where Egbert has arranged for a "paidco-respondent" to assist his client in obtaining a divorce from her boring, aging, geologist husband Robert.
What Holden does not know is that the client is none other than Mimi, who in turn mistakes him — because he is too ashamed of his occupation to say what it is, namely pseudonymously writing cheap "bodice ripper" romance novels — for the paid co-respondent.
At the end, when her husband appears, he is unconvinced by the faked adultery—but is then unwittingly revealed, by the waiter at the resort, to have been genuinely adulterous himself.
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‡new song for the London production, ‡‡for London production
Astaire's sisterAdele retired from show business and marriedLord Charles Cavendish after her last show with Fred,The Band Wagon (1931). When the producers ofGay Divorce asked Fred to star in the show, he deferred an answer until he could spend the summer of 1932 wooing his future wife, Phyllis, in London. He finally agreed, and rehearsals began in September 1932.[1] The show was both Astaire's last Broadway musical (after which he moved toHollywood) and his only stage musical without Adele. Also in the cast wereErik Rhodes andEric Blore who soon became famous in the early 1930s RKO comedies.[2]
Gay Divorce opened in pre-Broadway tryouts at theWilbur Theatre,Boston, on November 7, 1932, and then moved to theShubert Theatre, New Haven on November 21, 1932. It opened on Broadway at theEthel Barrymore Theatre on November 29, 1932, and transferred to theShubert Theatre on January 16, 1933, and closed on July 1, 1933, for a total run of 248 performances. Directed byHoward Lindsay with choreography byBarbara Newberry and Carl Randall, and set design byJo Mielziner, the cast featuredFred Astaire as Guy Holden,Claire Luce as Mimi, Luella Gear as Hortense,G. P. Huntley Jr. as Teddy, Betty Starbuck as Barbara Wray,Erik Rhodes as Tonetti,Eric Blore as Waiter, and Roland Bottomley as Pratt.
The show opened in theWest End at thePalace Theatre on November 2, 1933 and ran for 180 performances. It was directed by Felix Edwardes with Astaire, Luce, Rhodes and Blore reprising their roles. They were joined by Olive Blakeney as Gertrude Howard,Claud Allister as Teddy,Joan Gardner as Barbara Wray and Fred Hearne as Octavius Mann.
The Australian tour, presented byJ. C. Williamson's, commenced in Melbourne at theKing's Theatre on 23 December 1933. The production starred British actors Madge Aubrey,Billy Milton, and Iris Kirkwhite as Mimi.[3] Kirkwhite's understudy Mona Potts opened the show as Mimi with two days notice after Kirkwhite injured her ankle in rehearsal.[4] The production then played theTheatre Royal, Adelaide from 21 April 1934.[5] The Perth season, commencing May 5, 1934, J. C. Williamson’s presented three musical comedies,The Girl Friend,Gay Divorce (commencing May 12) andOur Miss Gibbs (commencing May 19) as well as a one night only performance ofGay Divorce atKalgoorlie Town Hall on 29 May 1934.[6] The final two stops of the tour includedHis Majesty's Theatre, Brisbane, opening 9 June 1934[7] and concluding at theTheatre Royal, Sydney opening 28 July 1934.[8]
The book is dated, and professional modern productions are rare.[2]Goodspeed Opera House staged the show in 1983 and an adapted version was seenoff-Broadway in New York in 1987.[9] The 1987 Off-Broadway production was mounted for the opening ofMartin R. Kaufman Theatre inHell's Kitchen, Manhattan.[10] The production starred Oliver Woodall as Guy Holden, Debra Dickinson as Mimi, Diane Findlay as Hortense, andJoaquin Romaguera as Teddy. Romaguera was nominated for theDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for his portrayal.[11] A concert version was presented atCarnegie Hall (Weill Recital Hall) in New York City in June 1993 and featuredRobert Westenberg as Guy,Rebecca Luker as Mimi,Judy Kaye as Hortense, andKurt Ollmann as Tonetti.[12] A "Musicals Tonight!" (New York City) concert production ran in March 2004.[13]
In 2000,Lost Musicals, aka The Lost Musicals Charitable Trust, presented at London's Palace TheatreGay Divorce with the BBC. Ian Marshall Fisher directed, Kevin Amos Music, Director. The cast included Janie Dee, Thelma Ruby, Tim Flavin and Julie Wilson appearing along with the BBC orchestra. This was the second and only appearance of this show and playing in the same theatre where[14] the original London production played. The regional company42nd Street Moon produced the piece inSan Francisco, California from April 12 - May 6, 2007.[2]
