Love Life (musical)

Love Life is a musical written by Kurt Weill (music) and Alan Jay Lerner (book and lyrics). It opened at the 46th Street Theatre on Broadway (now the Richard Rodgers) on October 7, 1948, and closed on May 14, 1949, after having played 252 performances. The original production starred Ray Middleton and Nanette Fabray, was directed by Elia Kazan, and choreographed by Michael Kidd.^[1]

The show told the story of a married couple, Sam and Susan Cooper, who never age as they progress from 1791 to 1948, encountering difficulties in their marriage (and thus the very fabric of marriage) as they struggle to cope with changing social mores. One of the earliest examples of the concept musical, the action of Love Life was interspersed with vaudeville-style numbers that commented on the story, in a way very similar to Cabaret (which opened in 1966).

No official cast recording of Love Life has ever been made; a strike at the time of the original production prevented preserving the original cast of this show, as also happened with Where's Charley? the same year.

The song "I Remember it Well" is the original version of a lyric Lerner revised for use in the 1958 film, Gigi.

Musical Numbers

Act 1

• "Who Is Samuel Cooper?"
• "My Name Is Samuel Cooper"
• "Here I'll Stay"
• "Progress"
• "I Remember It Well"
• "Green Up Time"
• "I Remember It Well (Reprise)"
• "Mother's Getting Nervous"
• "Economics"
• "My Kind of Night"
• "Women's Club Blues"
• "Progress (Soft Shoe Reprise)"
• "Love Song"
• "I'm Your Man"
• "You Understand Me So"
• "Finale Act 1"

Act 2

• "Ho, Billy, Oh"
• "I Remember It Well (Reprise)"
• "Is it Him or is it Me?"
• "Punch and Judy Get a Divorce" (Ballet)
• "This is the Life"
• Illusion Minstrel Show: "Madame Zuzu"
• Illusion Minstrel Show: "Takin' No Chances"
• Illusion Minstrel Show: "Miss Ideal Man"
• Illusion Minstrel Show: "Mr. Right"
• Finale

Other numbers

• Locker Room
• Susan's Dream

References

External links

• Love Life at the Internet Broadway Database
• Ovrtur.com listing