The 1931 film of the same name starring Will Rogers was not adapted from this musical, nor was the 1949 musical film A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, which starred Bing Crosby. The Rodgers and Hart Connecticut Yankee, like many of the team's earlier musicals, has never been filmed for the big screen though a scene was staged for the 1948 biographical movie of the lives of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, Words and Music.
Productions
Constance Carpenter and William Gaxton, principals of the original Broadway production of A Connecticut Yankee, on stage at the Vanderbilt Theatre during a mid-run rehearsal of the hit musical (1928). Producer Lew Fields is seen at right, in shirtsleeves.
A Connecticut Yankee opened on Broadway at the Vanderbilt Theatre on November 3, 1927, and closed on October 27, 1928, running for 421 performances. Directed by Alexander Leftwich, with dances by Busby Berkeley, it starred William Gaxton (Martin, the Yankee), Constance Carpenter (Alice Carter/The Demoiselle Alisande la Carteloise), and June Cochrane (Mistress Evelyn Al Belle-Ans).
Retitled A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur, the show opened in London at Daly's Theatre, under the management of George Edwardes, on 10 October 1929, running for just 43 performances. Harry Fox starred as Martin, with Constance Carpenter as Alice.[1] After closing in London the show toured the UK provinces in the spring of 1930. Additional numbers interpolated in the UK were by Desmond Carter, Vivian Ellis, H. M. Tennent, Percy Greenbank and others, and the piece now opened with a new Rodgers & Hart number "A Ladies Home Companion".[2]
A Broadway revival opened at the Martin Beck Theatre (now the Al Hirschfeld Theatre) on November 17, 1943, and closed on March 11, 1944, after 135 performances. Directed by John C. Wilson and choreographed by William Holbrook and Al White Jr., it featured Vivienne Segal (Lt. Merrill/Queen Morgan Le Fay), Dick Foran (Lt. Martin Barrett), Vera-Ellen (Mistress Evelyn Al Belle-Ans), and Robert Chisholm (Admiral Arthur/King Arthur of Britain).
In Connecticut in the 1920s, Martin is about to be married to Fay. When an old flame, Alice, visits him, Fay knocks him out with a champagne bottle in a jealous fit. As Martin dreams, he is seemingly in the court of King Arthur in 528 A.D. Dubbed "Sir Boss" by Arthur, Martin is directed to industrialize Camelot, which he does, including telephones, and radios. He falls in love with "Demoiselle Alisande" ("Alice") but the king's evil sister, "Morgan Le Fay" ("Fay"), kidnaps her. As Martin rescues her, he wakes up and realizes that it was Alice that he loved all along.
Changes made to the 1943 revival
The 1943 revival was revised by Rodgers and Hart. The setting was changed to a more topical war-time setting, and the show art showed a knight and his damsel in a jeep. Also, "Morgan Le Fay" was turned into a "singing sorceress" anti-heroine, and the song "To Keep My Love Alive" was written especially for this revival, for Vivienne Segal to perform.[4][5]
Songs
Among the best remembered songs are the up-tempo duet, "Thou Swell",[1] the ballad "My Heart Stood Still",[2] "On a Desert Island with Thee", and "I Feel at Home with You". For the 1943 revival, Rodgers and Hart added several additional songs, including "Can't You Do a Friend a Favor?"[3] and "To Keep My Love Alive", Hart's last song and a hit for star Vivienne Segal.
Act I
"This Is My Night to Howl"—Fay Morgan and Ensemble
