Sally (musical)

Sally
Sheet music cover
Music	Jerome Kern Victor Herbert
Lyrics	Clifford Grey Buddy De Sylva P. G. Wodehouse Anne Caldwell
Book	Guy Bolton
Productions	1920 Broadway 1921 West End 1923 Australia 1923 Broadway revival 1942 West End revival 1948 Broadway revival

Sally is a musical comedy with music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Clifford Grey and book by Guy Bolton (inspired by the 19th century show, Sally in our Alley), with additional lyrics by Buddy De Sylva, Anne Caldwell and P. G. Wodehouse. The plot hinges on a mistaken-identity: Sally, a waif, is a dishwasher at the Alley Inn. She poses as a famous foreign ballerina and rises to fame (and finds love) through joining the Ziegfeld Follies. There is a rags to riches story, a ballet as a centrepiece, and a wedding as a finale. "Look for the Silver Lining" continues to be one of Kern's most familiar songs. The song is lampooned by another song, "Look for a Sky of Blue," in Rick Besoyan's satirical 1959 musical Little Mary Sunshine.

The piece was first produced by Florenz Ziegfeld on Broadway in 1920 and ran for 570 performances, one of the longest runs on Broadway up to that time. The show was designed as a debut star vehicle for Marilyn Miller. It had a successful London run and was revived several times on Broadway and in the West End. Since World War II, it has had few productions. The musical was adapted into a 1925 silent film and a 1929 musical film.

Kern, Bolton, and Wodehouse had collaborated on a number of musical comedies at the Princess Theatre. The story combined the innocence of these earlier "Princess musicals" with the lavishness of the "Ziegfeld Follies" formula. The score recycles some material from previous Kern shows, including "Look for the Silver Lining" and "Whip-poor-will" (with lyrics by De Sylva, from the flop "Zip Goes a Million"); "The Lorelei" (lyrics by Anne Caldwell); and "You Can't Keep a Good Girl Down" and "The Church 'Round the Corner" (lyrics by Wodehouse). Grey supplied the lyrics for the few new songs in the score. At the request of Ziegfeld, Victor Herbert was engaged to write the music to "The Butterfly Ballet" in Act Three.