Let 'Em Eat Cake

Let 'Em Eat Cake
Official Logo
Music	George Gershwin
Lyrics	Ira Gershwin
Book	George S. Kaufman
Basis	Sequel to Of Thee I Sing
Productions	1933 Broadway 1994 BBC concert 2009 Opera North

Let 'Em Eat Cake is a Broadway musical with music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. It is the sequel to the Pulitzer prize-winning Of Thee I Sing and had the same producer, writers, and stars. However, the tone of Let 'Em Eat Cake was much darker and the issues more complex - President Wintergreen is defeated for reelection, and he and his former Vice President, Alexander Throttlebottom, form an incipient Fascist movement to take over the government.

The original Broadway production of Let 'Em Eat Cake opened October 21, 1933 at the Imperial Theatre, New York City, USA and ran for 89 performances. It had The cast included William Gaxton as J.P. Wintergreen, Victor Moore as Alexander Throttlebottom, Philip Loeb as Kruger, and Lois Moran as Mary Wintergreen. The no longer extant orchestrations were by Edward Powell.

The show carried a message that audiences did not want to hear and it was a failure. However, it did have one song: "Mine". Several musical themes from Of Thee I Sing are reused in Let 'Em Eat Cake, including the Supreme Court Judges' song and the campaign song "Wintergreen for President", which includes parts of folk and patriotic songs such as Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever", and "Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here."

A concert version of the show was performed on BBC Radio in 1994 (with a cast that included: Denis Quilley, Kim Criswell, Joss Ackland, Henry Goodman, and Louise Gold), and Opera North staged the show, along with a revival of Of Thee I Sing, during its 2008-9 season. The Opera North production was broadcast by BBC Radio 3 on Saturday, 26 September 2009, as part of its Opera on 3 series.

...
Wikipedia