Show Girl

"Show Girl" is a musical with a book by William Anthony McGuire, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Gus Kahn, and music by George Gershwin. Its heroine, aspiring Broadway showgirl Dixie Dugan, was a character created by J. P. McEvoy and introduced in a novel first serialized in "Liberty" and then published in book form by Simon & Schuster in 1928.

The Broadway production was produced by Florenz Ziegfeld, directed by McGuire, and choreographed by Bobby Connolly, with ballet sequences, including one set to "An American in Paris", by Albertina Rasch. Duke Ellington conducted the orchestra. It opened on July 2, 1929 at the Ziegfeld Theatre and ran for 111 performances. The cast included Ruby Keeler as Dixie, Jimmy Durante, Eddie Foy, Jr., Frank McHugh, and Nick Lucas.

Keeler's husband Al Jolson frequently sat in the audience and serenaded her with the show's closing number, "Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)," from his seat. ["Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington" by John Edward Hasse (ISBN 0306806142), page 122] The song was featured in the 1946 biopic "The Jolson Story". [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038661/soundtrack "The Jolson Story" at the Internet Movie Database] ]

Warner Brothers filmed this musical as "Show Girl" (1929) with Alice White as Dixie Dugan and then a sequel, "Show Girl in Hollywood" (1930) with White again starring as Dixie.

ong list

*Happy Birthday
*My Sunday Fella
*How Could I Forget?
*Can Broadway Do Without Me? (Music and lyrics by Jimmy Durante)
*Lolita (My Love)
*Do What You Do
*Spain
*One Man
*So Are You
*I Must Be Home by Twelve O'Clock
*Because They All Love You (Lyrics by Thomas Malie, music by J. Little)
*Who Will be With You When I Am Far Away? (Music and lyrics By W. H. Farrell)
*Black and White
*Jimmie, the Well-Dressed Man (Music and lyrics by Jimmy Durante)
*Harlem Serenade
*An American in Paris
*Home Blues
*Broadway, My Street (Lyrics by Sidney Skolsky, music by Jimmy Durante)
*(So) I Ups to Him (Music and lyrics by Jimmy Durante)
*Follow the Minstrel Band
*Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)

References

External links

* [http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=10910 Internet Broadway Database entry]