The run closed June 14, 1941
- Opened
- May 28, 1940
- Closed
- June 14, 1941
- Performances
- 444
- Previews
- —
- Theatre
- Imperial Theatre
Of the 890 productions we hold that opened in the 1940s and record a performance count, this is the 60th longest. That is a rank within what we hold, not within everything that was staged.
Who was in it61 named
April Ames
Dorothy Barrett
Georgia Carroll
Don Cortez
Charlie Curran
Douglas Dean
Clark Eggleston
Althea Elder
John Eliot
Judith Ford
Mary Ganley
Grace Gillern
Dwight Godwin
Petra Gray
Dorothy Hall
Mary Hartwig
Harold Haskins
George Hunter
Dorothy Jeffers
Nancy Knott
Charles la Torre
Henry Lahee
Charles Laskey
Patricia Lee
James Leland
Edith Luce
Betty Luster
Harvey Mack
Ray Mayer
Jack Mcclendon
Virginia Morris
Nicodemus
Leona Olsen
John Panter
James Phillips
Nicolai Popov
Richard Reed
Jo Jean Rogers
Phyllis Rogers
Marion Rosamond
Rosemary Sankey
Jean Scott
Veva Selwood
Zynaid Spencer
Aleen Stewart
Anitra Upton
Helen Vincent
Kenneth Whelan
Doris York
12 of these 61 names have a person record behind them and link to one. The other 49 are set from the identifier in the cast list, which is a slug of the name — so hyphens and full stops are lost and a few come out wrong. We hold nothing else about them. Nobody here is matched to a character: the cast list records who was in the company and not what they played.
Creative team
- Director
- Edgar MacGregor
- Choreographer
- George Balanchine
- Producer
- B. G. DeSylva (Irving Berlin uncredited)
A producer is one string on this record, however many people or companies it names. Directors and choreographers are held both as text and as identifiers; where an identifier exists the name links to a page.
Around this production
Louisiana Purchase is a musical with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin and book by Morrie Ryskind based on a story by B. G. DeSylva. Set in New Orleans, the musical lightly satirises Louisiana Governor Huey Long and his control over Louisiana politics. An honest U.S. senator travels to Louisiana to investigate corruption in the Louisiana Purchase Company; the company's lawyer attempts to divert him via the attentions of two beautiful women, but the senator maintains his integrity and ends up marrying one of them. In 1941 it was adapted for the film Louisiana Purchase directed by Irving Cummings. The show opened at the Shubert Brothers' Imperial Theatre, New York City on May 28, 1940 and ran…
- Balanchine, George Babes in Arms Boys from Syracuse, The Cabin in the Sky I Married an Angel Louisiana Purchase Merry Widow, The On Your Toes Song of Norway Where’s Charley? Ziegfeld Follies Broadway Musicals Show By Show Seventh Edition Stanley Green Cary Ginell, p. 387
- two were interpolated: “The (That) International Rag” for Merman (the song was first performed by Berlin himself in the 1913 London revue Hello, Ragtime , and was later added to the 1913 Broadway musical All Aboard ) and “What Chance Have I with Love?” for O’Connor (from Berlin’s 1940 Broadway musical Louisiana Purchas… Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals the Dan Dietz, p. 86
- Irving Berlin and Morrie Ryskind rang the bell with Louisiana Purchase, a political musical set in New Orleans, starring Victor Moore, William Gaxton, Vera Zorina, and Irene Bordoni. Mr. Balanchine provided the choreography and Mr. Berlin some fetching songs, such as "It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow," the title song, and so… At This Theatre 100 Years of Broadway Shows Stories and Botto Louis Viagas Rober, p. 178
- Berlin returned to Broadway on May 28, 1940, with Louisiana Purchase, which contained the songs “Fools Fall in Love,” “It’s a Lovely Day Tomorrow,” and the title song. Broadway Its History People and Places An Encyclopedia Bloom Ken 1949 2nd Ed New, p. 89
- In 1940 IrvING BERLIN’ s produc- tion of Louisiana Purchase (5/28/40; 444 perfor- mances) opened. Broadway Its History People and Places An Encyclopedia Bloom Ken 1949 2nd Ed New, p. 278
Passages naming this production, found by keyword across 178 books. Where it turns up in the literature, not curated notes about it.
What this page does not know
- No photograph of this staging. 48 of 13,459 productions hold one.
- No character names. We can say who was in the company and not who they played.
- No recording is held for Louisiana Purchase at all.
- Reviews, box office, running order, understudies and designers: none of it is held for any production.