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BLUE MOON · written by Robert Kaplow · 2025
Scene 19 of 26 · ≈ 2 min on screen · Act two
On the opening night of Oklahoma!, lyricist Lorenz Hart drinks through Sardi's while chasing one last renewal with Richard Rodgers and the young woman he adores, but both are already moving beyond him.
Hart leaves the show that displaced him for his Sardi's habitat, where wit and remembered greatness keep fear at bay.
Hart needs Elizabeth to choose him and Rodgers to need him, while drink offers the quicker form of consolation.
He admits White into his private mythology and steps into the Oklahoma! celebration to confront the people he cannot keep.
Hart pitches a grand future, hunts for artistic validation, and retreats through drink and old stories when Rodgers resists.
Hart admits to White that he has quietly entered life's 'for worse' years, inspires the name Stuart with his recurring mouse story, and retreats toward the men's room.
While rave reviews echo from upstairs, Eddie flirts with the cigarette girl and fails to remember Hart's borrowed joke.
In the men's room, Hart detains Morty with memories of Pal Joey's reviews and Vivienne Segal's tender but decisive rejection.
This scene
Rodgers is standing there with a drink; holding a scribbled piece of paper. Surrounding him stand Oscar Hammerstein, little Stevie, and a throng of FRIENDS.
RODGERS
Now I can drink.
(playing to the crowd)
May I remind everybody what Mike
Todd said about Oklahoma!
RODGERS (CONT'D)
in New Haven: "No laughs, no tits,
no chance"? We have a change now.
All right read that out. OK, wow.
LANGNER
Wonderful. This is what Nichols
said in the Times:
(reads)
"Wonderful is the nearest
adjective, for this excursion of
the Guild combines a fresh and
infectious gayety, a charm of
manner, beautiful acting, dancing
and singing, and a score by Richard
Rodgers which doesn't do any harm
either, since it is one of his
best."
Langner continues. Various friends have drifted even closer to Rodgers and Hammerstein. Everyone's face is beaming.
LANGNER (CONT'D)
"Mr. Rodgers's scores never lack
grace, but seldom have they been so
well integrated as this for
'Oklahoma!' He has turned out
waltzes, love songs, comic songs
and a title number which the State
in question would do well to adopt
as its anthem forthwith."
Friends applaud.
Larry moves towards the bar, unsure what to feel.
LANGNER (CONT'D)
"'Oh, What a Beautiful Morning,'
and 'People Will Say We're in Love'
are headed for countless juke-boxes
across the land."
Friends applaud and offer bravos.
LANGNER (CONT'D)
"--and a dirge called 'Pore Jud'--
in which the hero of the fable
tries to persuade his rival to hang
himself--is amazingly comic. 'The
Farmer and the Cowman' and 'The
Surrey with the Fringe on the Top'
also deserve mention only because
they quite clearly approach
perfection. "
HART
(suddenly turning back
towards Rodgers)
Read that part again.
LANGNER
"...because they quite clearly
approach perfection."
HART
Put that on the marquee! "Quite
clearly approaches perfection."
LANGNER
Come on, everybody! Party
upstairs! Cake and champagne.
HART
Oh, Oscar! Bravo, bravo.
(to Rodgers)
Can I speak with you for a moment?
RODGERS
Can we talk later--
HART
No, no, no, it's just a second. I
have something important to say.
Just a moment with the musical
genius. I just have one thing I
want to tell you, Dick. Just one
second, Dick. It's important.
Hart steers Rodgers a few feet towards the staircase where they can speak a little more intimately.