Musical
Miss Liberty
is a 1949
Broadway musical
with a
book
by
Robert E. Sherwood
and music and lyrics by
Irving Berlin
. It is based on the sculpting of the
Statue of Liberty
(
Liberty Enlightening the World
) in 1886. The score includes the song "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor", a musical setting of
Emma Lazarus
's sonnet "
The New Colossus
" (1883), which was placed at the base of the monument in 1903.
Plot
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In 1885,
New York Herald
publisher
James Gordon Bennett
assigns novice reporter Horace Miller to find the woman who served as
Frederic Auguste Bartholdi
's model for the
Statue of Liberty
. In the artist's
Paris
studio, Miller sees a photograph of Monique DuPont and mistakenly believes she was the one. Bennett arranges for her and her grandmother to accompany Horace back to
New York City
, where she becomes a media darling. When rival publisher
Joseph Pulitzer
discovers it was Bartholdi's mother who actually posed for him, he exposes Monique as a fraud in his
New York World
. She faces deportation until a sympathetic Pulitzer comes to her rescue, paving the way for her to plan a future with Horace, who jilts his American girlfriend Maisie Doll in favor of the French beauty.
Background and productions
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During
World War II
, Robert Sherwood was deeply moved when he saw what the Statue of Liberty meant to American GIs who were being shipped overseas, and he wanted to write a story about this symbol of freedom. While crossing the
Atlantic
on the
Queen Mary
with 15,000 recruits, the playwright had been "deeply moved" and "greatly impressed by the emotion that sight of the statue generated among these soldiers." Upon meeting Irving Berlin in England, he invited him to compose the score, and Berlin suggested
Moss Hart
become part of the creative team as a co-producer and director. The book and score were completed in May 1949 and a cast of fifty-five began rehearsals. The musical opened in
Philadelphia
on June 13 and, despite mostly negative reviews, the four-week-long run was a sellout, resulting in a profit of $175,000.
[1]
With an advance sale of $500,000,
[1]
the
Broadway
production opened at the
Imperial Theatre
on July 15, 1949 and closed on April 8, 1950, following 308 performances. Directed by Moss Hart and choreographed by
Jerome Robbins
, the cast included
Eddie Albert
as Horace Miller,
Allyn McLerie
as Monique DuPont,
Mary McCarty
as Maisie Doll,
Philip Bourneuf
as Joseph Pulitzer, and
Charles Dingle
as James Gordon Bennett, with
Maria Karnilova
and
Tommy Rall
among the supporting players.
Oliver Smith
designed the sets.
Ward Morehouse
of the
New York Sun
thought it was a "sharp disappointment,"
Richard Watts, Jr.
of the
New York Post
felt it was "only pretty fair," and the
Variety
critic, citing an "overly-plotty book, undistinguished score, insufficient comedy and merely adequate performances," described it as "something of a clinker."
[1]
Despite the poor reviews, many of its songs become popular hits, and 98 singles and three albums of the show's tunes were released. Weekly profits ranged from $5,000 to $9,000, although a six-week tour lost about $25,000.
[1]
42nd Street Moon in
San Francisco
produced the musical in November 2005.
[2]
Songs
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]
- Act 1
- Extra, Extra - Newsboys and Ensemble
- What Do I Have to Do to Get My Picture Took? - Maisie Doll, Horace Miller, and Dancers
- The Most Expensive Statue in the World - Joseph Pulitzer, James Gordon Bennett, the Mayor, Singers, and Dancers
- A Little Fish in a Big Pond - Horace Miller, Maisie Doll, and the Sharks
- Let's Take an Old-Fashioned Walk
- Horace Miller, Monique DuPont, Singers, and Dancers
- Homework - Maisie Doll
- Paris Wakes Up and Smiles - Monique DuPont and Ensemble
- Only for Americans The Countess - Horace Miller, Singers, and Dancers
- Just One Way to Say I Love You - Horace Miller and Monique DuPont
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- Act 2
- Miss Liberty - Entire Company
- The Train - Monique DuPont and the Train
- You Can Have Him
- Maisie Doll and Monique DuPont
- The Policeman's Ball - Maisie Doll, the Dandy, and Ensemble
- Homework (Reprise) - Maisie Doll
- Follow the Leader Jig - Ensemble
- Me and My Bundle - Horace Miller, Monique DuPont, and Company
- Falling Out of Love Can Be Fun - Maisie Doll
- Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor (from the poem
The New Colossus
by
Emma Lazarus
) - Monique DuPont and Singers
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