Theatre Register
Pipe Dream

Pipe Dream

Shows · Pipe Dream

Pipe Dream is the seventh musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II; it premiered on Broadway on November 30, 1955. The work is based on John Steinbeck's novel Sweet Thursday—Steinbeck wrote the novel, a sequel to Cannery Row, in the hope of having it adapted into a musical.

Opened
1955
Performances
246
Type
Musical
Era
Golden Age
Music: Richard RodgersLyrics: Oscar Hammerstein IIBook: Oscar Hammerstein II

Productions1 on Broadway

1955 Shubert Theatre Original. November 30, 1955 · Harold Clurman 246 performances

Every Broadway staging held in broadway-data, sourced to IBDB. West End runs are not yet held.

Recordings 1 album held

Licensing 2 entries

US Concord Theatricals R&H Theatricals available
UK Concord Theatricals R&H Theatricals available

Read from the licensor's own pages and catalogues. Rights move, and an empty row means we have not confirmed a publisher, not that the show cannot be licensed.

In the literature32 passages

Dropped during preproduction were the songs “Nobody’s Fool,” “Cannery Row,” and “A Man of Some Intelligence.” It appears “Sitting on the Porch in the Moonlight,” which had been cut from Allegro, was at one point considered for Pipe Dream. book:complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-the-dan-dietz#p519

The show, although not as well regarded as Rodgers and Hammerstein’s greatest hits, was better received than Allegro, Pipe Dream, or Me and Juliet. book:broadway-its-history-people-and-places-an-encyclopedia-bloom-ken-1949-2nd-ed-new#p466

Even songwriters like Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and Jerry Herman, who supplied both music and lyrics also worked in teams, repeatedly pairing up with the same librettists. The team of Rodgers and Hammerstein created nine indelible shows in only sixteen years, plus an original film score (State Fair) and an original t… book:broadway-musicals-the-101-greatest-shows-of-all-time-bloom-ken-1949-vlastnik-fra#p62

Replacing a miscast Helen Traubel in Pipe Dream (1955), and many said her presence in the role of Flora made the whole show fall into place. book:broadway-musicals-the-101-greatest-shows-of-all-time-bloom-ken-1949-vlastnik-fra#p202

In addition to songs from the film, including “It’s a Grand Night for Singing,” other songs from the Rodgers and Hammerstein catalog were added to the show, including “The Man I Used to Be” from Pipe Dream. book:historical-dictionary-of-the-broadway-musical-volume-22-william-a-everett-paul-r#p367

"By contrast, K & H admit their preference in Pipe Dream for characters whose 'problems are simple....' We find pleasure that their worries, this time, are not concerned with the future of a kingdom [King and I] or with miscegenation [South Pacific]." In Mandelbaum, Sol Since "Carrie," p. 347. book:showtime-a-history-of-the-broadway-musical-theatre-larry-stempel#p757

Passages naming this show, found by keyword across 178 books. Where this show turns up in the literature, not curated trivia about it.

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