People love to hear a success story. However, people seem equally taken by the tale of a falling star or the tragedy of a hero who fails. You could say we’re looking for pointers to prevent our own destruction or ensure our salvation.
American writer, Lorenz Hart knew this absolutely in his marrow and he demonstrated it at a professional level. From 1920 to 1943 he worked with celebrated composer Richard Rodgers. He wrote the lyrics to the songs that premiered in 26 Rodgers and Hart Broadway musicals. The duo also wrote songs for several Hollywood hit films.
During the Great Depression, Rodgers and Hart songs were often sung and recorded by numerous artists and orchestras. Songs like “Isn’t it Romantic?” And “Blue Moon” were massive hits at a time when audiences worldwide were seeking out entertainment to distract themselves from the largest economic downturn in history. Thus, Rodgers and Hart, became greatly successful and wealthy during this era.
However Lorenz Hart, better known as Larry, was a troubled man whose work was curtailed by his alcoholism. Rodgers often found it difficult to track down Hart when promised lyrics were not delivered. This put a strain on their professional relationship and this is one of the strands running through the Richard Linklater movie BLUE MOON.
The major portion of the film takes place at Sardi’s restaurant, the iconic eatery of the New York Theatre District. It is the evening of the premiere of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical Oklahoma! It is March 31, 1943 and the show has opened at the St James Theatre. Hart is there with his beloved mother Frieda and they witness the rapturous audience reception for the new show.
Hart has nothing to do with the writing of the show itself and in a sense feels replaced by lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. (Interestingly, both Hart and Hammerstein had worked with Rodgers years previously for Columbia University varsity shows). Hart and his mother go to Sardi’s to wait for the influx of the theatre community and Rodgers and Hammerstein themselves.
Hart is feeling intensely sorry for himself and feels the need to talk and to drink, while he waits for people to arrive. He is supposed to be newly sober and yet somehow keeps angling for shots of liquor from the bartender Eddie. He throws out inquiries at him and the piano player Morty, but these are pretexts for Hart to hold forth about any topic that flickers through his rambling mind. He is eminently distractible because he believes tonight’s Broadway triumph, means he is in trouble. Richard Rodgers, the man he worked with for nearly twenty-five years, apparently doesn’t need him. He wonders if Rodgers and Hart are finished.
He fixes his attention on Elizabeth Weiland, a 20-year-student he has been “courting” from a distance. There is a twenty-seven year age gap between the pair. She sees him as a mentor and possibly no more than that. Hart imagines that he can deepen his relationship with Weiland. At least, he’s going to try.
Filmmaker Linklater, has recreated a slice of New York theatre history that is well-discussed among those who know and love the music and careers of Rodgers and Hart and Rodgers and Hammerstein. From the first frames, we are plunged into this era and are firmly ensconced in this drama about theatre.
Ethan Hawke presents us with a Larry Hart who is spikey, clever, self-pitying and damaged. At first, he is difficult to relate to, but as the evening moves on, we begin to understand this sad, witty man with greater clarity. We see what makes him tick and we become concerned about where his journey will take him.
Eddie the bartender is played by Bobby Cannavale, an actor who always has a solid presence and is perfectly cast here as a man of this era. You believe his Eddie has seen a lot and knows how to be discreet.
Andrew Scott anchors the story with his portrayal of Rodgers. He cares about Hart but is also ready to move on without him. There are a couple of moments between the two of them that are beautifully handled by Scott, Hawke and Linklater; where we see the past and future hovering between the two men and we get a feel for who they once were and who they are now.
Margaret Qualley does an amazing job with Elizabeth Weiland because although her literal screen-time is limited, the moments she shares with Hart gives us a different point-of-view of his character. We see both of them through the eyes of the other and the story benefits from this shifting perspective. The writer of the screenplay, Robert Kaplow based his take on this story on correspondence between Weiland and Hart.
As the night moves on, the numbers of well-wishers swells, positive Oklahoma! reviews are reported and read out aloud, Hart finds it difficult to know where to place himself and how to present an acceptable face. He knows he must congratulate Rodgers – and even Hammerstein. And be seen doing so.
Throughout the film, Mort the piano player runs through a selection of Rodgers and Hart classics and this beautifully underpins the emotions we are taken through. If you have theatre-kid/Michael Feinstein DNA, then you will be hooked again and again by hearing drifting segments of Rodger’s and Hart’s pages of the Great American Songbook.
If you are unacquainted with Lorenz “Larry” Hart, then Richard Linklater has done a first class job in adapting an era and a moment in the life of this formidably talented 20th century lyricist.
Running Time (1 hour, 40 minutes)
Rating: 8.5/10
