As Thousands Cheer

A Musical Revue in Two Acts, a Prologue and 21 Scenes. Sketches by Moss Hart. Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin.

Opened Music Box Theatre, New York - 30 September 1933; closed 8 September 1934 (400 perfs)

Synopsis

The show gave its authors a melody-filled, laugh-laden successor to their Face the Music. The cast included Clifton Webb, Helen Broderick, Ethel Waters, and Marilyn Miller in her last stage appearance before her untimely death.

Using the clever device of having each scene preceded by an appropriate newspaper headline, its sketches sent their barbs far and wide: the Hoovers leaving the White House, with the President giving his cabinet a Bronx cheer; John D. Rockefeller refusing to accept Radio City as a birthday gift; commercials interrupting the singing during a Metropolitan Opera broadcast; a hotel staff falling under the influence of Noël Coward; and a Supreme Court decision that says musicals cannot end with reprises, resulting in a new number, "Not For All The Rice In China," as a finale.

Berlin filled the score with top tunes. Besides "Supper Time," an African-American woman's lament for her lynched husband, and "Harlem On My Mind," in which a Josephine Baker type of expatriate longs for her old home (her lips start to whisper "Mon Cheri," but her heart keeps singing "Hi-di-ho"), Ethel Waters introduced the sizzling "Heat Wave." Marilyn Miller and Clifton Webb stepped out of a sepia-tinted photo in the rotogravure section to enjoy the "Easter Parade." Berlin had written this song during World War I, when its lyric began "Smile and show your dimple." The show was a triumph, running a year and making a handsome profit - a rarity during Depression days.

Taken from A Chronicle of American Musical Theatre (3rd ed) by Gerald Boardman

Scenes, settings and musical numbers:

PROLOGUE

• Scene 1
  Dining Room in Park Avenue - Langley, a Butler: Mr. Andrews: Mrs. Andrews:
• Scene 2
  Editor's Office - Editor: Reporter:
• Scene 3
  Columbus Circle - Boys, Girls

ACT 1

• Scene 1
  Franklin D. Roosevelt Inaugurated Tomorrow - Mr. Hoover: Mrs. Hoover: Charlie:
• Scene 2
  Woolworth Declares Regular Dividend - Barbara Hutton to Wed Prince Mdivani - The Lackey: Prince Hohenstein: Prince Donatelli: Prince Austerliebe: Prince DeLuneville: "How's Chances?"
  
• Scene 3
  Heat Wave Hits New York - "Heat Wave"
• Scene 4
  Joan Crawford to Divorce Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. - Joan Crawford: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.: Will Hays: First Reporter: Second Reporter: Third Reporter: Fourth Reporter:
• Scene 5
  "Majestic Sails at Midnight"
• Scene 6
  Lonely Heart Column - "Lonely Heart"
• Scene 7
  World's Wealthiest Man Celebrates 94th Birthday - John D. Rockefeller, Sr.: John D. Rockefeller, Jr.: Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.: John D. Rockefeller, Jr.'s Children: Reporter and Cameraman:
• Scene 8
  "The Funnies"
• Scene 9
  Green Pastures Starts Third Road Season - Man: Woman:"To Be or Not To Be"
• Scene 10
  Rotogravure Section
• Scene 11
  Easter Parade on Fifth Avenue - 1883. - "Her Easter Bonnet" ("Easter Parade")

ACT 2

•  Scene 1
  Metropolitan Opera Opens in Old Time Splendour - Radio Announcer: Mons. Peppiton: Mr. Williams: Mrs. Williams: Her Daughter:
• Scene 2
  Unknown Negro Lynched by Frenzied Mob - "Supper Time"
• Scene 3
  Gandhi Goes on New Hunger Strike - Mahatma Gandhi: Aimee Semple MacPherson: Counterman: Cameramen: Reporter:. Native Messenger:
• Scene 4
  Revolt in Cuba - The Dancers
• Scene 5
  Noël Coward, Noted Playwright, Returns to England - First Bellboy: Second Bellboy: Mrs. Fisher, housekeeper: Ella, a scrubwoman: Aggie, a chambermaid: Henry Perlmutter, a Waiter: Window Cleaner:
• Scene 6
  Society Wedding of the Season: Outside St. Thomas' - Bridesmaids: Ushers: "Our Wedding Day"
• Scene 7
  Josephine Baker Still the Rage of Paris - Josephine Baker: Her Secretary: Maitre d'Hotel: "I've Got Harlem on My Mind"
• Scene 8
  Prince of Wales Rumored Engaged - The King: The Queen: The Prince: The Prime Minister:
• Scene 9
  Broadway Gossip Column: - "Through a Key Hole"
• Scene 10
  Supreme Court Hands Down Important Decision - Editors' Office: Editor: Reporter:"Not For All the Rice in China"

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Discography:

As Thousands Cheer: The Hit Musical Comedy Revue! (1998 New York Revival Cast)