Lute Song (musical)

Lute Song
Decca Records release
MusicRaymond Scott
LyricsBernard Hanighen
BookSidney Howard
Will Irwin
BasisPi-Pa-Ji by Gao Ming
Productions1946 Broadway

Lute Song is a 1946 American musical with a book by Sidney Howard and Will Irwin, music by Raymond Scott, and lyrics by Bernard Hanighen. It is based on the 14th-century Chinese play Tale of the Pipa (Pi-Pa-Ji) by Gao Ming.[1] Though not a great success, the show is significant for Mary Martin's meeting of then-unknown cast member Yul Brynner, whom she later recommended to her friends Rodgers and Hammerstein for the role of the Siamese monarch in the classic The King and I, which premiered on Broadway in 1951.[2] It was also the only Broadway appearance of Nancy Davis, future U.S. First Lady Nancy Reagan.

  1. ^ Stanley Hochman (1984). McGraw-Hill encyclopedia of world drama: an international reference work in 5 volumes. VNR AG. p. 235. ISBN 978-0-07-079169-5. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
  2. ^ Davis, Ronald L. (2008). Mary Martin, Broadway Legend. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-8061-3905-0. Free preview at amazon.com