This tool is unavailable at the moment. Please try again later.
Start planning your production with a cost estimate you can save and share with your team. Just answer a few questions.
This estimator is only for amateur productions. Professional customers should contact the Licensing department directly to enquire about a title's availability: [email protected]
Important: The cost quoted is an estimate only and may differ when you apply for a licence.
A CONCORD THEATRICALS TITLE
Full-Length Musical, Satire/Political Satire / 7w, 13m plus ensemble
Book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie RyskindMusic by George GershwinLyrics by Ira Gershwin
Aiming its barbs at everything from totalitarianism to fashion shows, Let ’Em Eat Cake is a dark, cynical and hilarious American operetta featuring one of the Gershwin brothers’ most complex and inventive scores.
A biting sequel to the Pulitzer prize-winning Of Thee I Sing, Let ’Em Eat Cake is a darker, more complex look at politics and American culture in the early 1930s. In this tuneful but edgy satire, President Wintergreen is defeated for reelection, and he and his former Vice President, Alexander Throttlebottom, form an incipient Fascist movement to take over the government. The rousing score from George and Ira Gershwin includes the hit song “Mine.”
Let ’Em Eat Cake premiered on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre on October 21, 1933. Produced by Sam H. Harris, the production featured William Gaxton as J.P. Wintergreen, Victor Moore as Alexander Throttlebottom, Philip Loeb as Kruger, and Lois Moran as Mary Wintergreen.
For more about the plays and musicals of George S. Kaufman, visitwww.georgeskaufman.com.
GENERAL ADAM SNOOKFIELD, U.S.A.TRIXIE FLYNN – General Snookfield’s lady friendFRANCIS X. GILHOOLEY – Secretary of the NavyMRS. GILHOOLEYLOUIS LIPPMAN – Secretary of AgricultureMRS. LIPPMANSENATOR CARVER JONES – A Senator from the SouthMRS. JONESSENATOR ROBERT E. LYONS – A Senator from the WestMRS. LYONSMATTHEW ARNOLD FULTON – Newspaper magnateMRS. FULTONMARY WINTERGREEN – The First LadyJOHN P. WINTERGREEN – The President of the United StatesTHE CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURTALEXANDER THROTTLEBOTTOM – The Vice-President of the United StatesKRUGER – A revolutionaryTHE PRESIDENT OF THE UNION LEAGUE CLUBUNCLE WILLIAM – An ancient attendant at the Union League ClubLIEUTENANTJOHN P. TWEEDLEDEE – The new President of the United StatesFLUNKEY
Various locations, from Main Street to the White House to the guillotine. 1933.
“Delightful... lively and vivacious and rippling with little musical jokes.” – National Review
“The show is still very funny... the score is lively and vivacious and rippling with little musical jokes drawn out of everything from Schubert to Sousa to The Pirates of Penzance.” – National Review (2019)
“Very sophisticated... with its counterpoint, multiple songs within musical interludes, and its duets and large choral numbers, this was the composer’s most complex score to date... The score to Let ’Em Eat Cake is composed in a series of mini-musical sequences, something Sondheim was to popularize decades later. The eclectic influences included Handel, Shubert, Gilbert and Sullivan (‘I am the very model of a modern major general’), Yiddish music and blues.” – Theater Scene
“Though George Gershwin’s highly skilled musicianship was justly admired... some may sense disturbing parallels to our present times.” – Operetta Research Center
Act I
1. “Overture” – Orchestra2. “Opening Act I (Tweedledee for President)” – Ensemble3. Union Square Scene “Union Square” – Kruger“Down with Everyone Who’s Up” – Kruger and Agitators4. Store Scene“Shirts by Millions” – Wives and Ensemble“Comes the Revolution” – Throttlebottom and Ensemble“Mine” – John, Mary and Ensemble5. “The Union League” – President of the Union League Club and Club Members6. “Comes the Revolution (Reprise)” – Union League Club7. “On and on and On” – John, Mary and Company7a. “Change Music” – Orchestra8. “Finale Act I” – Company
Act II
9. Opening Act II“Blue, Blue, Blue” – Wives and Ensemble“Who's the Greatest?” – John and Ensemble9a. “Supreme Court Entrance” – Orchestra9b. “Supreme Court Exit” – Orchestra9c. “D.A.R. Entrance” – Orchestra9d. “League Entrance” – Orchestra10. “The League of Nations” – Ensemble11. “Team, Team, Team (Up and at ’Em)” – Ensemble12. The Trial of Throttlebottom“That's What He Did” – Throttlebottom, Kruger and Ensemble“I Know a Foul Ball” – Throttlebottom“Throttle Throttlebottom” – Kruger and Ensemble13. The Trial of Wintergreen“A Hell of a Hole (A Hell of a Fix)” – John, Kruger and Soldiers“Down With Everyone Who's Up (Reprise)” – Kruger and Ensemble“It Isn't What You Did” – John and Ensemble“Mine (Reprise)” – John, Mary and Ensemble14. “First Lady and First Gent” – Kruger, Trixie and Ensemble15. “Hanging Throttlebottom in the Morning” – Lieutenant and Ensemble15a. “Prisoner’s Entrance” – Orchestra15b. “Guillotine Fanfare” – Orchestra15c. “Executioner’s Music” – Orchestra16. “Fashion Show” – Ensemble17. “Finale Ultimo” – Company
22 Libretto-Vocal Book 1 Piano-Vocal (rehearsal & performance) 1 Full Score (stick conductor) 1 Reed 1 – Piccolo & Flute 1 Reed 2 – Oboe 1 Reed 3 – Clarinet & Alto Saxophone 1 Reed 4 – Clarinet, Bass Clarinet & Alto Saxophone 1 Reed 5 – Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Tenor Sax & Baritone Sax 1 Horn 1 Trumpet 1 1 Trumpet 2 1 Trumpet 3 1 Trombone 1 Piano 1 Drums – Drum Kit, Bells, Wood Block, Triangle, Timpani, Ratchet, Xylophone, Temple Blocks, Vibes, Gong, Referee's Whistle, Tambourine & Guiro 1 Violin A1 Violin B 1 Violin C 1 Viola A1 Viola B 1 Cello 1 Bass
22 Libretto-Vocal Book 1 Piano-Vocal (rehearsal & performance)
George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn on September 26, 1898, and began his musical training when he was 13. At 16, he quit high school to work as a "song plugger" for a music publisher, and soon he was writing songs himself. "Swanee," as introduced by Al Jolson, brought George ...
Ira Gershwin, the first songwriter to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize, was born in New York City on December 6, 1896. In 1917 The Evening Sun published his first song (“You May Throw All The Rice You Desire But Please, Friends, Throw No Shoes”). Four years later, Ira enjoyed hi ...
George S. Kaufman was born in Pittsburgh in 1889. During his early career as a reporter and drama critic , he began to write for the theatre. For 40 years, beginning in 1921 with the production of Dulcy, there was rarely a year without a Kaufman play — usually written in coll ...
Morrie Ryskind, the librettist of Louisiana Purchase, was born in New York City in 1895 and graduated from the Columbia University School of Journalism. His principal collaborator in the theater was George S. Kaufman, with whom he wrote the Marx Brothers musical Animal Cracke ...
Multiple Authors