The Girl from Utah is an Edwardian musical comedy in two acts with music by Paul Rubens, and Sidney Jones, a book by James T. Tanner, and lyrics by Adrian Ross, Percy Greenbank and Rubens. The story concerns an American girl who runs away to London to avoid becoming a wealthy Mormon's newest wife. The Mormon follows her to England, but she is rescued from a bigamous marriage by a handsome actor.
The piece opened at the Adelphi Theatre in London on 18 October 1913 and had an initial run of 195 performances. An American version was produced by Charles Frohman that had a successful run of 140 performances at the Knickerbocker Theatre, opening on August 24, 1914. Frohman hired the young Jerome Kern to write five new songs for the score together with lyricist Herbert Reynolds to strengthen what he felt was a weak first act. Julia Sanderson and Donald Brian starred in the production. Their song "They Didn't Believe Me" became a hit.[1][2] The musical also toured in other countries, including South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.[3]
"They Didn't Believe Me", with its conversational style and modern 4/4 time signature instead of the older waltz style, put Kern in great demand on Broadway and established a pattern for musical comedy love songs that lasted through the 1960s. It became a standard and has been recorded by many artists.[1][4] A recording of a concert performance of the show is available from the Comic Opera Guild.[5]
- ^ a b Kenrick, John. "Jerome Kern: 'They Didn't Believe Me'", History of The Musical Stage, 1910-1919: Part I, The Cyber Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre, TV and Film (2008)
- ^ "The Girl from Utah", American Theater Guide, The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Oxford University Press (2004)
- ^ "Local and General". Thames Star (Waikato, New Zealand), 30 Haratua (May) 1914, p. 2
- ^ Bordman, Gerald. "Jerome David Kern, Innovator/Traditionalist", The Musical Quarterly Volume 71, no. 4, April 1985, pp. 468-73
- ^ "Comic Opera Guild Recordings", Comic Opera Guild, accessed October 1, 2014