Shows N

NO, NO, NANETTE! Book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel : Music by Vincent Youmans Lyrics by Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach : Adapted and directed by Burt Shevelove : Based on My Lady Friends by Frank Mandel Globe Theatre, Broadway - 16 September, 1925 SYNOPSIS No, No, Nanette, in this revamped version billed as "The New 1925 Musical", started the nostalgia craze on Broadway. It is a show that takes the audience by the hand and leads it back to the never-never-land of the 20s. Things were dearer, sweeter and sillier then, and so is No, No, Nanette now. The story is a light-hearted framework for the music of Vincent Youmans and included in the score are two of the most famous show-tunes ever written, "Tea For Two" and "I Want To Be Happy". SYNOPSIS Now then. The time is 1925, the place New York City, in the sumptuous town house of James (Jimmy) Smith, noted Bible publisher. The home is presided over by his wife Sue and her overworked housemaid Pauline. The main attraction of the household, however, seems to be young Nanette, a schoolgirl ward, whom the Smiths are raising to become a lady. Nanette has young ideas and a whole lot of friends who would like to see her put them into practice. A bunch of them come to call on her but encounter, instead, Sue's friend Lucille Early who has tried, in her time, both ring-around-the-rosie romantic game-playing and marriage. She knows all about both, and knows which is better. Nanette's friends go to find her in the garden, while Lucille - who has been on a shopping spree - hides her purchases in Sue's ample closets. Jimmy comes home and he and Sue have a fond, if brief, moment together recalling their own courtship days. Then young Tom Trainer, the most ardent of Nanette's suitors, gets her alone long enough to confess his intentsions and grope for the ring he has on him - somewhere. But Nanette wants some time to raise Cain before she starts on her own family. While Nanette is being relentlessly protected, there appears to be some familiar adult hanky-panky going on behind Sue's back. Bible publisher or not, Jimmy Smith has been sending handsome sums to support three undeserving young ladies who live in cities he occasionally has to visit in the Bible belt. All three are threatening something between True Love and blackmail, and Jimmy has to call in his lawyer. Billy Early, Lucille's husband. Billy now appears to confer with his client. But Billy encounters Sue, and instead of setting the price to buy the girls off, he learns from Sue that she and Jimmy have decided to sublet the darling little summer house they keep in Atlantic City. Since he has to go there anyway, the location strikes Billy as the ideal site for a settlement. And, well, he always did find the shore invigorating. Now it just so happens that all of Nanette's young friends are going to Atlantic City for a weekend of surf and dancing. Nanette pleads to go, too - unchaperoned. The answer is the usual double negative. But Jimmy - who can't resist a female in distress - slips her two hundred dollars and fond regards. He's working his way out of his own troubles and maybe, with a little pocket money, she can see daylight too. After all, the pursuit of happiness is our birthright, isn't it? Billy tells Lucille he has to spend a few days travelling on business for Jimmy. But Lucille's only worries are her charge accounts. As for the possibility of Billy's straying maritally - she trusts him!

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