Very Warm for May, 1939

The run closed January 6, 1940

Opened

November 17, 1939

Closed

January 6, 1940

Performances

59

Previews

Unknown

Theatre

Neil Simon Theatre

Of the 1,389 productions we hold that opened in the 1930s and carry a performance count, this is the 410th longest. That is a rank within what we hold, not within everything that was staged.

Who was in it46 named

Dolores Anderson
Maxine Barrat
Seldon Bennett
Beulah Blake
Virginia Card
Peter Chambers
Andre Charise
William Collins
Sally Craven
Helen Donovan
Eleanor Eberle
Frank Egan
Bruce Evans
Miriam Franklyn
Claire Harvey
Louis Hightower
Avon Long
Walter Long
Don Loper
Ethel Lynn
Ray Mayer
Len Mence
Frances Mercer
Rudy Miller
Kay Picture
Marie Louise Quevli
Richard Quine
Pamela Randell
Jack Seymour
Hollace Shaw
Max Showalter
Ralph Stuart
Evelyn Thawl
Webb Tilton
Jack Wilson

11 of these 46 names have a person record behind them and link to one. The other 35 are set from the identifier in the cast list, which is a slug of the name, so hyphens and full stops are lost and a few come out wrong. We hold nothing else about them. Nobody here is matched to a character: the cast list records who was in the company and not what they played.

Creative team

Director

Oscar Hammerstein II, Vincente Minnelli

Choreographer

Albertina Rasch

Orchestrations

Russell Bennett 4

A producer is one string on this record, however many people or companies it names. Directors and choreographers are held both as text and as identifiers; where an identifier exists the name links to a page.

Recordings 1 held for the work

None of these is attributed to this staging. They are filed against Very Warm for May, and nothing says which production any of them documents. Closing that join is the point of this catalogue and it is not closed yet.

Around this production

Very Warm for May is a musical composed by Jerome Kern, with a libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was the team's final score for Broadway, following their hits Show Boat, Sweet Adeline, and Music in the Air. It marked a return to Broadway for Kern, who had spent several years in Hollywood writing music for movies, including Swing Time for Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Vincente Minnelli directed Very Warm for May, which opened at the Alvin Theatre on November 17, 1939. It contained such favorite songs as "All the Things You Are", "All in Fun", and "In the Heart of the Dark." Gerald Bordman, author of the definitive Kern biography Jerome Kern: His Life and Music, hailed the score as one of…

The critics and audiences who saw the show prior to New York were generally enthusiastic, but Gordon was unhappy with Vincente Minnelli’s direction and asked Hassard Short to step in. The Complete Book of 1930s Broadway Musicals Dietz Dan Rowman Littlefield Publis, p. 615

• In her early career, Worth appeared in a number of short-lived musicals (Very Warm for May, Higher and Higher, Bright Lights of 1944, Jackpot, and Seven Lively Arts), and was also closely associated with Mary Martin. Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals the Dan Dietz, p. 184
• The musical was a hit in London, opening at His Majesty’s Theatre on May 19, 1933, for 275 performances and starring Mary Ellis, Broadway’s original Rose-Marie. A 1935 film version by Fox starred Gloria Swanson, and Al Shean reprised his role from the original production. Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals the Dan Dietz, p. 206
• After Show Boat Kern and Hammerstein would collaborate on three of the composer’s remaining five Broadway shows, two with respectable runs, Sweet Adeline (1929) and Music in the Air (1932), and a disappointing Very Warm for May (1939). Despite Enchanted Evenings the Broadway Musical From Show Boat Block Geoffrey Oxford New, p. 67
• Kern managed only one more new Broadway show, Very Warm for May (1939) in a final decade spent mainly in films. Enchanted Evenings the Broadway Musical From Show Boat Block Geoffrey Oxford New, p. 262
• While working in Hollywood, he wrote Very Warm for May (1939) for Broadway; though the show itself was not a success, it included the classic “All the Things You Are.” Historical Dictionary of the Broadway Musical Volume 22 William A Everett Paul R, p. 212

Passages naming this production, found by keyword across 178 books. Where it turns up in the literature, not curated notes about it.

What this page does not know

• No photograph of this staging.
• No character names. We can say who was in the company and not who they played.
• Which of the 1 recordings of Very Warm for May document this run, if any.
• Reviews, box office, running order, understudies and designers: none of it is held for any production.