Dearest Enemy

Dearest Enemy
Sheet music cover (cropped)
Music	Richard Rodgers
Lyrics	Lorenz Hart
Book	Herbert Fields
Basis	A true American Revolutionary War incident
Productions	1925 Broadway

Dearest Enemy is a musical with a book by Herbert Fields, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, and music by Richard Rodgers. This was the first of eight book musicals written by the songwriting team of Rodgers and Hart and writer Herbert Fields, and the first of more than two dozen Rodgers and Hart Broadway musicals. The musical takes place in 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, when Mary Lindley Murray detained British troops long enough in Manhattan to give George Washington time to move his vulnerable troops.

Hart got the idea for the musical from a plaque in Manhattan about Murray. He, Rodgers and Fields first took their musical to Fields' father, Lew Fields, to produce, but he declined, thinking the Revolutionary War story would not be commercial. At the time, Rodgers and Hart were unknown young songwriters, but in May 1925, they wrote songs for a charity revue, The Garrick Gaieties, which became a surprise success, and their songs were a hit. Ultimately George Ford, husband of Helen Ford, a star of the show, agreed to produce it. The musical had been variously described as an operetta and a genuine comic opera in the press. Ford presented a tryout of the musical, titled Dear Enemy at the Ohio Colonial Theatre in July 1925. After rewrites, it played for a week in Baltimore in early September 1925.

The Broadway production opened on September 18, 1925 at the Knickerbocker Theatre and closed on May 22, 1926, after 286 performances. Directed by John Murray Anderson, the cast included Flavia Arcaro as Mary, Helen Spring as Jane, John Seymour as Captain Harry Tryon, Helen Ford as Betsy Burke, Charles Purcell as Captain Sir John Copeland, Alden Gay as Caroline, Marian Williams as Annabelle, Jane Overton as Peg, Andrew Lawlor Jr. as Jimmy Burke, William Eville as General Henry Clinton, Harold Crane as General William Howe, Detmar Poppen as General John Tryon, Arthur Brown as Lieutenant Sudsby, Percy Woodley as General Israel Putnam, James Cushman as Major Aaron Burr, Jack Shannon as Private Peters, Mark Truscott as Private Woods, Percy French as Private Lindsay, Frank Lambert as Envoy, and H. E. Eldridge as George Washington. The success of the show led to many more Rodgers and Hart musicals. Despite a good run with very favorable reviews and a national tour, revivals afterwards were few.