Leave It to Me!

Leave It to Me!
Music	Cole Porter
Lyrics	Cole Porter
Book	Samuel and Bella Spewack
Productions	1938 Broadway

Leave It to Me! is a 1938 musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The book was a collaborative effort by Samuel and Bella Spewack, who also directed the Broadway production. The musical was based on the play Clear All Wires by the Spewacks, which was performed on Broadway for 93 performances in 1932, and which was filmed in 1933, starring Lee Tracy, Benita Hume, Una Merkel and James Gleason.

Set in Stalinist Russia in the 1930s, with Stalin himself appearing at the end, in the Cold War era after World War II its comic treatment of Soviets and Nazis seemed misplaced, and the show was not revived until the late 1980s.

Mary Martin made her Broadway debut in this musical, which introduced the songs "Get Out of Town" and "My Heart Belongs to Daddy."

The musical had pre-Broadway tryouts at the Shubert Theatre, New Haven, starting on October 13, 1938 and then at the Shubert Theatre, Boston, starting on October 17, 1938.

It opened on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre on November 9, 1938 and closed on July 15, 1939 after 291 performances. It reopened on September 4, 1939 and closed September 16, 1939 for another 16 performances. The choreography was by Robert Alton, costumes by Raoul Pene du Bois and the set was by Albert Johnson. The cast featured William Gaxton, Victor Moore, Sophie Tucker, Mary Martin, Tamara Drasin, and Alexander Asro. In his first Broadway show, Gene Kelly had a role as a dancer and Secretary to Mr. Goodhue. The original production ended with the appearance of Joseph Stalin, who led a final dance to the Soviet anthem The Internationale. After the signing of the Nazi-Soviet pact, Stalin was dropped from the show.

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