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BLUE MOON · written by Robert Kaplow · 2025
Scene 2 of 26 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one
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.
Seven months after Oklahoma!'s opening, Lorenz Hart collapses alone in a rainy alley as a radio obituary inventories the songs that will outlive him.
This scene
We are in a box seat with Hart and an elderly woman, his mother FRIEDA.
Down below, on stage, largely out of focus, a CHORUS of COWBOYS sings an ode to statehood. The song's charms have clearly eluded Hart who is cradling his forehead in misery.
COWBOY CHORUS
(singing)
We know we belong to the land.
HART
Here comes grand...
COWBOY CHORUS
(singing)
And the land we belong to is grand!
And when we say:
Ee-ee-ow!
A-yip-i-o-ee-ay!
We're only sayin',
"You're doin' fine, Oklahoma!"
Hart rises.
HART
I need a drink.
FRIEDA
Lorry!
HART
I'll see you later, Ma.
COWBOY CHORUS
Oklahoma, O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A,
Oklahoma. Yeeow!
The cowboys hurl their hats into the air.