Jennie (musical)

Jennie
Original Cast Recording
Music	Arthur Schwartz
Lyrics	Howard Dietz
Book	Arnold Schulman
Basis	The life of Laurette Taylor
Productions	1963 Broadway

Jennie is a musical with a book by Arnold Schulman, music by Arthur Schwartz, and lyrics by Howard Dietz, and starred Mary Martin.

The plot focuses on actors and married couple Jennie Malone and James O'Connor, who tour the country in popular melodramas. Much of the action consists of elaborate spoofs of the type of entertainment offered to audiences in the early 20th century.

In the late 1950s, the project began as an account of actress Laurette Taylor's early life and career, based on a biography written by her daughter Marguerite Courtney. While it was still in its early stages, a non-musical adaptation of the book starring Judy Holliday closed after a week in New Haven. Undaunted, the creative team forged ahead, tailoring what was then called Blood and Thunder specifically for the talents of Mary Martin who, with her husband Richard Halliday, agreed to produce the show with Cheryl Crawford. Martin and Halliday financed half of the $500,000 production costs and Crawford and Alan Pakula the other half.

S. N. Behrman used Taylor's son Dwight's biography as a source for the musical's book, which centered on Taylor's husband Charles and the various women in his life, all portrayed by Martin. His book ultimately was abandoned, and Shulman was called in to write a new version, which fictionalized the story and its characters. The end result bore no resemblance to either the original concept or Taylor.

Jennie was plagued with problems from the start. In Boston, the major character of Jennie's second husband (J. Hartley Manners, who was to be played by Robin Bailey) was eliminated, and Carol Haney replaced Matt Mattox as choreographer. Schwartz sued the Boston Globe and its critic Kevin Kelly, on the basis that his review implied the composer had "stolen or plagiarized" from other composers. In summarizing the Boston reviews, The New York Times noted that while the critics unanimously praised Martin, they were "disappointed" in the show. It was "too long, too cultured, and sometimes even too solemn for its own good", according to Elliot Norton of The Record American.