A TAMS-WITMARK TITLE

Bloomer Girl

Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy  /  9w, 8m

E. Y. Harburg, Harold Arlen, Sig Herzig, Fred Saidy, Dan James, Lilith James

Book by Sig Herzig and Fred Saidy / Based on a play by Dan and Lilith James / Music by Harold Arlen / Lyrics by E. Y. Harburg

Set during the Civil War in the small Eastern manufacturing town of Cicero Falls, Bloomer Girl is the story of the rebellious Evalina Applegate, an abolitionist who falls in love with a Kentucky slave holder.

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    9w, 8m
  • Duration
    Duration
    More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Period
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Appropriate for All Audiences
Bloomer Girl

Details

Summary
Set during the Civil War in the small Eastern manufacturing town of Cicero Falls, Bloomer Girl is the story of the rebellious Evalina Applegate, an abolitionist who falls in love with a Kentucky slave holder. The original production included a Civil War Ballet choreographed by Agnes De Mille. Musical numbers include: "When the Boys Come Home," "Evalina," "Right as the Rain," "The Eagle and Me," and "Sunday in Cicero Falls."
History
Bloomer Girl opened on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre on Oct 05, 1944, starring Celeste Holm, David Brooks, Richard Huey, Joan McCracken and Dooley Wilson. The show played for 654 performances.
Keywords
By 1861, Horatio Applegate, a successful Yankee hoop skirt manufacturer with six attractive daughters, had carefully married five of them to good hoop skirt salesmen, but the sixth and youngest, Evalina, is more difficult to handle. She is passionately attached to her Aunt Dolly Bloomer, who is an ardent suffragette, the originator of the bloomer, and a believer in the emancipation of slaves. So Evalina works for her causes and even wears bloomers in defiance of her father.

Horatio decides that the best cure for Evalina is marriage, and he brings forth a handsome suitor from the southern hoop skirt district, Jefferson Lightfoot Calhoun of Kentucky. But Evalina suspects Jeff of having the same opinions as her father, so to test him she tricks him into freeing his own slave, Pompey.

This makes Evalina interested in Jeff, but it also gets him in to trouble with his own brother, Hamilton, the real business power of the southern district, who objects to Jeff giving away family property. Jeff almost gives Pompey back to Hamilton, thereby losing Evalina. She gets herself into trouble by championing a parade of Aunt Dolly’s Bloomer Girls and insists on going to jail with them. Everything is in a deplorable state until Jeff comes through by buying Pompey’s freedom, thus really winning Evalina’s love. The Governor of the state, an old suitor of Aunt Dolly’s, pardons the prisoners in the jail.

Shortly after this, Fort Sumter is fired upon and war looms above everything. But since Kentucky stays in the Union, Evalina and Jeff can be united and look forward to a happy life.

Principals
(8 female; 9 male)

Evalina Applegate - youngest daughter, heroine
Serena Applegate - mother
Daisy - maid, young comedienne
Married Daughters:

  • Octavia
  • Lydia
  • Julia
  • Delia
  • Phoebe

Jefferson Lightfoot Calhoun ("Jeff") - fresh young hero
Pompey - slave to the Calhouns
Alexander - a slave
Augustus - a slave
Sons-in-law:

  • Joshua Dingle
  • Herman Brasher
  • Ebenezer Mimms
  • Wilfred Thrush
  • Hiram Crump

Supporting

Horatio Applegate - father
Aunt Dolly Bloomer - leading suffragette and the creator of bloomers
Gus - coachman
Hamilton Calhoun - Jeff's older brother, business man
Sheriff Quimby and Three Deputies
Governor Newton - Aunt Dolly’s suitor
Governor’s Aide

Ensemble

Prudence, Paula, Hetty, and other Bloomer Girls
Characters in the Play Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Buyers, Guests, Children, Townspeople, Policemen

  • Time Period American Civil War Era
  • Setting
    Cicero Falls, a small Eastern Manufacturing Town. Spring 1861.
  • Features Period Costumes
  • Duration More than 120 minutes (2 hours)

Music

Act I

Overture - Orchestra
Piano Practice - Orchestra
1. "When The Boys Come Home" - Serena and Daughters
1a. Incidental - Orchestra
1b. "When The Boys" (Reprise) - Sons-in-law
1c. Jeff's Entrance - Orchestra
2. "Evalina" - Jeff
2a. "Evalina" (Reprise) - Jeff
3. "Welcome Hinges" Part 1 - Serena, Horatio, Thrush & Ensemble
4. "Welcome Hinges" Part 2 - Dingle, Mimms, Jeff, Evalina & Ensemble
5. Change of Scene - Orchestra
6. "The Farmer's Daughter" - Dingle, Brasher, Mimms, Thrush and Crump
7. Change of Scene - Orchestra
7a. Daisy's Exit - Orchestra
8. "It Was Good Enough for Grandma" - Evalina and the Bloomer Girls
8a. Grandma Ballet - Orchestra
9. "The Eagle and Me" - Pompey
10. "Right As the Rain" - Jeff and Evalina
11. Change of Scene - Orchestra
12. "T'Morra" - Daisy
12a. T'Morra Dance - Orchestra
12b. T'Morra Exit - Orchestra
[There is no # 13]
14. "Rakish Young Man With the Whiskers" - Evalina and Jeff
15. Waltz: Ballet - Orchestra
15a. Waltz Specialty - Orchestra
15c. "Pretty As a Picture" - Daisy, Bloomer Girls & Ensemble

Act II

16. Entr'acte - Orchestra
17. "Sunday in Cicero Falls" Evalina & Ensemble
18. Uncle Tom Parade - Orchestra
18b. "Sunday in Cicero Falls" (Reprise) - Daughters
19, Change of Scene - Orchestra
20. "I Got a Song" - Alexander, Augustus and Pompey
20a. Encore: "I Got a Song" - Alexander, Augustus and Pompey
21. "Right As The Rain" (Reprise) - Jeff and Evalina
22. "Lullaby" - Evalina
23. "Freedom Song" - Alexander, Augustus, Pompey & Ensemble
24. Uncle Tom Overture - Orchestra
25. "Liza Crossing the Ice" - Ensemble
26. "I Never Was Born" - Daisy & Ensemble
27. "Man For Sale" - Auctioneer
27a. Governor's Fanfare/Pantomime - Orchestra
28. Civil War Ballet - Orchestra
29. "The Eagle and Me" (Reprise) - Ensemble
30 Piano Practice - Orchestra
31. Finale: "When the Boys Come Home" - Company
32. Bows ("Evalina") - Company
33. Exit Music - Orchestra

Full Ochestration:
Piano
  • Musical Style Classic Broadway
  • Dance Requirements Moderate
  • Vocal DemandsModerate
  • Orchestra Size Piano Only
  • Chorus Size Large

Licensing & Materials

  • Licensing fees and rental materials quoted upon application.

Music Rentals

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Authors

E. Y. Harburg

One of America’s greatest lyricists for stage and screen, Yip Harburg (1896-1981) was the son of poor Russian-Jewish immigrants and attended CCNY. Also a book writer (usually with Fred Saidy), director, and poet, Harburg wrote lyrics for more than 550 songs, including “It’s O ...

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Harold Arlen

Harold Arlen (1905-1986) wrote some of the greatest hits from the 30's and 40's, including the entire score to the classic movie The Wizard of Oz. Songs such as “Over the Rainbow,” “Get Happy,” “Stormy Weather,” “It's Only a Paper Moon,” “I've Got the World on a String” and “ ...

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Author

Sig Herzig

Author

Fred Saidy

Dan James

DAN JAMES and his wife LILITH JAMES wrote the book for Bloomer Girl in 1944 before spending the next two decades as volunteers in the barrios of East L.A.  Before that, Dan James was a co-director of Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator. Both he and his wife Lilith were calle ...

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Lilith James

DAN JAMES and his wife LILITH JAMES wrote the book for Bloomer Girl in 1944 before spending the next two decades as volunteers in the barrios of East L.A.  Before that, Dan James was a co-director of Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator. Both he and his wife Lilith were calle ...

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