Alan Jay Lerner: A Lyricist's Letters Read Online Free PDF

be written by a musician who can compose a concerto for symphony orchestra and, if need be, appear as his own soloist.” 94 Thus the combination of Lerner and Weill had as much potential as that of Lerner and Loewe, and for the next two years it seemed the new team was permanent.
    Figure 1.2
Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe working on the screen version of
Brigadoon
.
    Credit: Photofest
         In September 1947, Lerner started to pursue talent for the show. Gertrude Lawrence 95 was now mentioned as the potential star, 96 and the musical at this point was designed to tell “the history of a woman”; Robert Lewis was slated to direct, following his success with
Brigadoon
. 97 By November, Lerner and Weill had already written several songs, and the provisional title was
A Dish for the Gods
, but they declared that “as for a star to play the lead, there’ll be no more dickering with anyone until the final script is delivered.” 98 As time went on, it was clear that the musical would be deferred until the following season, 99 though in early February Lerner and Weill revealed that their work would be completed “within two or three weeks” and screen star Ginger Rogers 100 was now in the running for the lead. 101 Then on February 16 they announced that the piece was complete, but Crawford had decided to delay the production until the following year in order to have a few major actresses to choose from. 102 Martin and Lawrence were apparently still in the running, but Lerner and Weill went to visit Rogers in Hollywood with the script and score, which she liked; her film schedule ultimately prevented her from taking part. 103 In the interim, the new writingteam set to work on planning a musical for Lerner’s wife Marion Bell, who was still appearing in
Brigadoon
. Lerner described it to a reporter as “a musical play, halfway between
Street Scene
and
Brigadoon
,” and said “the locale is the eastern end of the Mediterranean.” 104
         Meanwhile, Lerner maintained contact with Loewe while discussions were under way for the screen version of
Brigadoon
. For many months, J. Arthur Rank pursued the rights to make the film in England, with Bing Crosby 105 as the lead. 106 The writers were seeking $500,000, though they later accepted less than half that sum from MGM, which eventually made the movie under the direction of Vincente Minnelli. 107 Despite these negotiations, it was clear that Lerner was still fully committed to Weill, and work continued on their show, regardless of their claims to have finished in February. On May 2, further details were disclosed: the title was to be changed, and the script had been amended to increase the importance of the male lead character in the hopes of attracting Alfred Drake 108 or Eddie Albert 109 for the role. 110 Ultimately, Nanette Fabray 111 was named as the female star, following rave reviews for her performance in Jule Styne’s
High Button Shoes
, with Ray Middleton (the original Broadway Frank Butler in
Annie Get Your Gun
) 112 as the male lead, and Robert Lewis was replaced by Elia Kazan 113 as director.
         Renamed
Love Life
, the show started rehearsals on August 9 ahead of a New Haven tryout in September. 114 Lerner’s innovative libretto recounted “the story of 130 years of American home life involving a couple and their two children,” and even as
Brigadoon
closed on July 31, Lerner looked forward to his next musical on Broadway. 115 Four days before the October 7 opening, an imaginaryconversation between Weill, Lerner, and a man on the street was printed in the
New York Times
, in which they tried to explain the concept of their new show. As can be seen from the following excerpt, they were clearly aware that they were pushing the envelope in terms of what audiences might be expecting:
    MAN : Pardon me. Do either of you know anything about this show?
    LERNER : Yes, we saw it in New Haven.
    MAN : What is it? I am a little confused. It says here on