Call Me Madam is a Broadway musical written by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin.
The musical is a satire on politics and foreign policy that spoofs postwar America's penchant for lending billions of dollars to needy countries. It centers on Sally Adams, a well-meaning but ill-informed socialite widow who is appointed ambassador to the fictional European country of Lichtenburg, where she charms the local gentry, especially Cosmo Constantine, while her press attaché Kenneth Gibson falls in love with Princess Maria.
Background The lead character is based on Washington, D.C. hostess and Democratic Party fundraiser Perle Mesta, who was appointed ambassador to Luxembourg in 1949. The Playbill distributed at each performance humorously noted that "neither the character of Mrs. Sally Adams nor Miss Ethel Merman resemble any person living or dead."
In 1949, Merman and her family were vacationing at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs with Howard Lindsay and his wife, Dorothy Stickney. Watching Merman at poolside, while he was reading a magazine article about Mesta, Lindsay was struck by how typically "American" Merman was, and immediately envisioned her portraying a colorful character similar to the newly-appointed ambassador. When he proposed the idea to Merman, who had little interest in either society or political news, she responded, "Who's Perle Mesta?"Kellow, Brian, Ethel Merman: A Life. New York: Viking Press 2007. , pp. 121-142
Although Merman had announced she was interested in playing a dramatic role in her next project, Lindsay and Russel Crouse approached Irving Berlin and began working on the book for Call Me Madam when Berlin expressed interest in composing the score. Berlin's last production, Miss Liberty, had failed to recoup its investment, and he was determined to repeat the success he had had with Annie Get Your Gun. The three collaborators agreed they needed to treat their subject with care, to avoid any legal action by Mesta. As the work progressed, Merman conceded she would be willing to sing two or three songs, but eventually accepted the fact she was going to star in a full-scale musical comedy, instead of the drama she preferred.
Producer Leland Hayward budgeted the production at $250,000. In exchange for the original cast recording and television broadcast rights, he arranged to have it financed 100% by RCA Records and NBC, with the two sharing 35% of the net earnings. In order to increase the profits, Hayward decided to charge an all-time high of $7.20 for orchestra seats.
Hayward hired George Abbott to direct, and Abbott and casting director Harold Prince auditioned thousands of actors for the twenty speaking roles and twenty-nine chorus members. Raoul Pene du Bois was hired to design sets and costumes, while the wardrobe worn by Merman was the responsibility of Mainbocher.
Once the script was completed, everyone agreed that, while it seemed originally little more than standard situation-comedy material—although as the years have transpired, many musical aficionados rate it much higher—it was a perfect vehicle for Merman, and that Berlin's score, raised to its pinnacle by Merman, was tuneful and memorable. Berlin wrote "Something to Dance About" to give the second act a lively opening. When the star requested a duet with Russell Nype playing her lovestruck press attaché, Berlin responded by writing the counterpoint tune "You're Just in Love" and it ultimately became a showstopper at every performance.
Synopsis Sally Adams, a wealthy widow from Oklahoma, lives in Washington, D.C., where she is known as "the hostess with the mostest," famed for throwing the best parties in town. Despite her complete lack of experience, she is tapped as ambassador to the tiniest country in Europe, the Grand Duchy of Lichtenburg. The young press attaché Kenneth Gibson accompanies her as her aide. Sally is disappointed to find that Lichtenburg's foreign minister, Cosmo Constantine, is a formal and standoffish person who refuses to accept America's offer of foreign aid. She hatches a plot to get Cosmo promoted to the office of prime minister, thinking that he can be replaced by a foreign minister more open to her American manners and way of thinking. Meanwhile, Kenneth meets Princess Maria, daughter of the duke and duchess. Her parents are planning to marry her to a wealthy suitor whose fortune will help the duchy financially. Despite the fact that she is forbidden to speak to commoners, the princess and Kenneth fall in love.
Cosmo learns of Sally's plans for him and resigns his position, opening the way for the country's first general election in twenty years. Sally openly campaigns for Cosmo to become prime minister, and is recalled to Washington for interfering in another country's internal affairs. However, the spirit of democracy has awakened in Lichtenburg: Cosmo is elected prime minister and the duke and duchess grant permission for Maria and Kenneth to marry.
Productions Directed by George Abbott and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, the musical premiered at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut on September 11, 1950. Reviews were mixed—Variety said it "inspires warm applause rather than cheer"—and Berlin wrote two new songs to bolster the sagging second act. It opened in Boston on September 19, and while The Boston Record thought it offered "only an occasional flash of inspirational fire", it played to standing-room-only audiences throughout the run.
With a record advance sale of $2 million, the Broadway production opened on October 12 at the Imperial Theatre, where it ran for 644 performances and grossed more than $4 million. In addition to Merman and Nype, the cast included Paul Lukas, Pat Harrington, Sr., Galina Talva, Lilia Skala, Tommy Rall and Richard Eastham. Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times thought it offered one of Berlin's "most enchanting scores: fresh, light, and beguiling, and fitted to lyrics that fall out of it with grace and humor", and the New York Post called Merman "indescribably soul-satisfying", "a comedienne of rare skill", and "one of the joys of the world." She remained with the show for the entire run and appeared in the limited four-week engagement staged to celebrate the reopening of the National Theatre in Washington, D.C.
Apart from playing Rose in the first national tour of Gypsy, the role of Sally Adams in Call Me Madam was the only stage role that Merman reprised after originating on Broadway. In July 1965, Merman headlined a revival by the Valley Music Theater in which Richard Eastham and Russell Nype also reprised their Broadway roles. The production played an encore engagement, without Nype, in Houston that October. Merman, Eastham and Nype again reprised their Broadway roles for a 1967 summer stock tour of Call Me Madam.
The national tour of Call Me Madam was headlined by Elaine Stritch. Merman's understudy during the show's Broadway run, Stritch had never performed as Sally Adams at the Imperial, her debut in the role occurring at a matinee performance during the show's May 1952 Washington D.C. engagement. Subsequent to engagements at the Nixon Theater in Pittsburgh and the Hanna Theatre in Cleveland, with respective openings on June 2 and 9, 1952, the national tour opened at the Philharmonic Auditorium on June 23, 1952, with further engagements in nine other cities, including Chicago and Detroit, the finale an engagement at the Iroquois Park Amphitheater in Louisville in August 1953. Throughout most of the tour, Stritch's leading man was Kent Smith as Cosmo Constantine, although Dick Smart took the role before the tour's end. The cast of the national tour also included Pat Harrington Sr. and Jay Velie reprising their Broadway roles. Stritch reprised the role of Sally Adams in two regional theatrical productions, headlining at the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre in 1954, with Nype reprising his Broadway role, and for the Valley Forge Music Fair in 1956.
Call Me Madam returned to the New York stage for the first time since its original Broadway run via the New York City Center Encores! semi-staged concert version, with Tyne Daly headlining a cast including Walter Charles as Cosmo Constantine, Lewis Cleale as Kenneth and Melissa Errico as Princess Maria. Presented in February 1995Encores 1995 listing broadwayworld.com, accessed March 3, 2009 as the inaugural production of the Encores! second season, Call Me Madam was lauded as the company's first hit production. Encores! presented a fully-staged production in February 2019, with Carmen Cusack headlining a cast that included Darrell Hammond as Grand Duke Otto, Carol Kane as Grand Duchess Sophie, Stanley Wayne Mathis as Senator Borckbank, Randy Rainbow as Sebastian Sebastian and Lauren Worsham as Princess Maria.
Call Me Madam had its premiere regional theatrical engagement at the Dallas State Fair in August 1952, with Joan Blondell headlining and Russell Nype reprising his Broadway role. The cast also included William LeMassena as Pemberton Maxwell, Michael Pollock as Sebastian Sebastian and Gene Raymond as Cosmo Constantine. In 1959, Constance Bennett headlined a production featuring Wilbur Evans as Cosmo Constantine that played engagements at the Camden County Music Fair and the Storrowtown Music Fair. Also in 1959, Penny Singleton headlined a production by the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre in which both Russell Nype and Pat Harrington Sr. reprised their Broadway roles. Wilbur Evans reprised the role of Cosmo Constantine in a 1963 production headlined by Martha Raye that played engagements at the Valley Forge Music Fair and at the Storrowtown Music Fair, with Kenneth Gibson played by James Kirkwood. Margaret Whiting, who headlined a 1961 production that played in Boston and New Jersey, in 1966 headlined the play's Melody Top summer stock production in Milwaukee that featured Tommy Sands as Kenneth Gibson.
Jo Anne Worley, who headlined the 1987 Pasadena Convention Center production of Call Me Madam, also headlined a semi-staged concert version mounted in 2001 at the Auditorium Theatre (Chicago) with Malcolm Gets as Kenneth Gibson and Fred Willard. Leslie Uggams headlined a revival mounted at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey in April–May 1996. The additional cast included J. B. Adams as Henry Gibson/Grand Duke Otto, Mark Baker as Pemberton Maxwell and Vanessa Dorman as Princess Maria.Klein, Alvin. "From Washington to Lichtenburg via Berlin", The New York Times, April 21, 1996. In September 2000, Call Me Madam was mounted at the UCLA Freud Playhouse with Karen Morrow headlining a cast that included Robert Mandan as Pemberton Maxwell, Michael Nouri as Cosmo Constantine, Hugh Panaro as Kenneth Gibson and Michael Tucci as Congressman Wilkins.
Other regional productions of Call Me Madam have been headlined by Maxene Andrews (East Windsor, Connecticut, 1976), Klea Blackhurst (San Francisco, 2009), Kim Criswell with Catherine Brunell as Princess Maria and David Hess as Cosmo Constantine (Middlesex County, Connecticut, 2004), Ruta Lee (Fort Worth, Texas, 1978) and Helen Reddy with Monte Markham as Cosmo Constantine (Sacramento, California, 1986).
Call Me Madam opened in the West End at the London Coliseum on March 15, 1952 for a run of 486 performances. Billie Worth headlined a cast that included Anton Walbrook as Cosmo Constantine and Shani Wallis—in her first major stage role—as Princess Maria.Call Me Madam listing broadwayworld.com, accessed March 3, 2009. Noele Gordon—who had understudied Worth during the London Coliseum run—headlined the production's British touring edition in 1953. A 78-rpm cast recording of the production was released on the Columbia Records label in 1952, with Billie Worth and Arthur Lowe, titled Vocal Gems from Call Me Madam.