Love Life is a musical written by Kurt Weill (music) and Alan Jay Lerner (book and lyrics).
The musical opened at the 46th Street Theatre on Broadway (now the Richard Rodgers) on October 7, 1948, and closed on May 14, 1949, after having played 252 performances. The original production starred Ray Middleton and Nanette Fabray, was directed by Elia Kazan, and choreographed by Michael Kidd. Fabray won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her performance.
Synopsis The show told the story of a married couple, Sam and Susan Cooper, who never age as they progress from 1791 to 1948, encountering difficulties in their marriage (and thus the very fabric of marriage) as they struggle to cope with changing social mores. One of the earliest examples of the concept musical, the action of Love Life was interspersed with vaudeville-style numbers that commented on the story, in a way very similar to Cabaret (which opened in 1966).
Revivals In 2017 Love Life was staged at Theater Freiburg using a German-language translation of Lerner's libretto by Rüdiger Bering. His translation was approved of by the Kurt Weill Foundation and was praised for successfully "striking a tone reminiscent of the great song and operetta lyricists of the German and Viennese interwar years, such as Marcellus Schiffer and Fritz Löhner-Beda".
The show was revived twice in 2025, by Opera North in Leeds, UK. Opera North had also fully staged the show's UK premiere (at Leeds Grand)in 1996. Although the 1996 version was broadcast on BBC Radio 3, the 2025 Leeds semi-staged production was the first released UK recording with a cast headed by Quirijn de Lang and Stephanie Corley, and by New York City Center in 2025 as part of their Encores! series starring Kate Baldwin and Brian Stokes Mitchell.Gans, Andrew Brian Stokes Mitchell Will Join Kate Baldwin in Love Life for City Center Encores! Playbill, March 3, 2025
Influence Critic Norman Lebrecht has called the piece "foundational" for Stephen Sondheim. "There is no Company or Merrily or Pacific Overtures without it".Norman Lebrecht. 'The start of something new', in The Critic, 2 November, 2025
Original cast and characters CharacterBroadway (1948)Playbill 1949 Bio Cast Listaccessed 06/21/2024Susan Cooper Nanette FabraySam Cooper Ray MiddletonElizabeth Cooper Cheryl Archer Johnny Cooper Johnny Stewart
Musical Numbers
Part One The Magician Opening (Waltz) - The Magician, Sam, and Susan The Cooper Family Who Is Samuel Cooper? - Mary Jo, George, Jonathan, Charlie, Hank, and Women My Name Is Samuel Cooper - Sam Here I'll Stay - Sam and Susan Eight Men Progress - The Go-Getters The Farewell I Remember It Well - Sam and Susan Green Up-Time - Susan, Men and Women Polka and Green Up-Time (Reprise) - Susan, Johnny, Men and Women I Remember It Well (Reprise) - Sam, Susan, Johnny and Elizabeth Quartette Economics - Quartette Susan's Dream [Cut Song] - Quartette The New Baby Prelude and Postlude to Scene - Orchestra Three Tots and A Woman Mother's Getting Nervous - Three Tots Trapeze Specialty - Trapeze Artist Foxtrot (with Encore) - Three Tots My Kind of Night My Kind Of Night - Sam Women's Club Blues - Susan and Women My Kind of Night (Reprise) - Sam Love Song Progress (Reprise with Soft Shoe) [Cut Song] - The Go-Getters Love Song - Hobo The Cruise I'm Your Man - Sam, Slade, Boylan, Harvey, and Leffcourt You Understand Me So [Cut Song] - Susan and Taylor Finale Part One: I'm Your Man (Reprise) - Entire Company
Part Two Madrigal Singers Ho, Billy O! - Leader and Singers Radio Night The Locker Room Boys [Cut and Replaced with Madrigal Singers] The Locker Room - Locker Room Boys Farewell Again I Remember It Well (Reprise) - Sam and Susan Is It Him or Is It Me? - Susan The All-American Puppet Ballet Present Punch and Judy Get A Divorce Prologue - Punch, Judy, Lawyer, Judge, Bell Hop, Correspondent Courtroom - The same in addition to Two Lawyers, Flighty Pair, and Speedy Pair Family Trio (Green Up-Time) - Child, Father, and Mother Hep Cats (Economics) - Hep Cats A Hotel Room This Is The Life - Sam The Minstrel Show Here I'll Stay (Reprise) - Interlocutor We're Sellin' Sunshine - Interlocutor and Minstrels Introduction - Interlocutor, Sam, Susan, and Minstrels Madame Zuzu - Miss Horoscope and Miss Mysticism Takin' No Chances - Mr. Cynic Mr. Right (Introduction) - Miss Ideal Man Mr. Right - Susan Finale Ultimo - Sam and Susan
No official cast recording of the original production of Love Life was made; a strike at the time of the original production prevented it, as also happened with Where's Charley?, which opened four days later, on Oct. 11, 1948. The January 2025 Opera North production, produced by the BBC and issued as a CD, claims to be the first complete recording.Capriccio C5550 (2025)
The song "I Remember it Well" is the original version of a lyric Lerner revised for the 1958 film Gigi.
References
External links
Ovrtur.com listing