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BLUE MOON · written by Robert Kaplow · 2025
Scene 22 of 26 · ≈ 3 min on screen · Act three
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 gets Rodgers' love and the offer of a small reunion, along with the unsparing terms that make it impossible for him.
The Times review crowns Oklahoma! near perfection; Hart applauds, then urgently draws Rodgers aside for a private farewell disguised as congratulations.
Hart and Rodgers recall their first hit, then clash over sentiment, Hart's drinking and absences, and whether affection can preserve a partnership Rodgers has outgrown.
Finding White gone, Hart drinks and jokes about failing memory until Elizabeth descends with the young George Roy Hill.
This scene
Hart instinctually gets up and moves toward her.
HART
My irreplaceable Elizabeth!
He hugs her.
ELIZABETH
Larry!
ELIZABETH (CONT'D)
(re: her dress)
Do you like it? Oscar Hammerstein just said I was a gem!
HART
He has such a way with words.
ELIZABETH
(to suitor)
George, this is Lorenz Hart.
GEORGE ROY HILL
(ambitious ass-kisser)
I am legitimately honored to meet you.
HART
Would you mind if I spoke to Elizabeth alone for two minutes? And then she's all yours.
GEORGE ROY HILL
It would be perfectly all right as long as you promise me your autograph before I go.
He hands him his playbill.
ELIZABETH
George is a senior at Yale. He's studying music, but he wants to be a director.
HART
A director. Well what's your name?
GEORGE ROY HILL
George Hill.
They shake hands. Hart signs the suitor's Playbill.
HART
Here's my advice to you, future director, George Hill. Do you want my advice?
GEORGE ROY HILL
I'd be honored.
HART
Be careful of love stories. Think about friendship stories.
HART (CONT'D)
That's where the really enduring stuff lives.
GEORGE ROY HILL
Thank you. I'll remember that.
ELIZABETH
Catch up with you later, George.
George nods, heads into the restaurant area, weighing what he's just heard.
ELIZABETH (CONT'D)
(to Larry)
My mother just gave me this.
She indicates her necklace.
ELIZABETH (CONT'D)
I was really touched she gave it to me.
Hart touches the delicate bone at the base of her neck.
HART
...my well-tempered clavicle.
ELIZABETH
Careful. My mother...
HART
Sorry. Now I know your birthday isn't until November 19th.
ELIZABETH
I'm a scorpion!
HART
I never doubted that for a second. Did you get the sheet music I sent you?
ELIZABETH
I was so busy with exams, I put them away; honestly, and then I kind of forgot about them. But now I've got the time. I promise you. I'm going to get a friend of mine to play every single one of those songs for me.
HART
Take your time. That's the wonderful thing about art, isn't it? It waits for you.
ELIZABETH
(sips her wine)
Thank you for all the letters you wrote me. I really enjoyed reading them. My roommate couldn't believe I was actually corresponding with Lorenz Hart.
HART
I remember in Vermont you were drinking red wine.
ELIZABETH
Malbec. It's a big Yale drink. You ask for the French malbec, and then you act as if you can actually tell which vineyard it came from. Oh, don't mention Vermont around my mother, OK? She doesn't know anything about our little getaway. Actually, thank goodness she doesn't know about 90% of what's going on in my life.
HART
Well, I feel privileged that I do. Or that I did, back in August.
ELIZABETH
I've got much more stuff to report on since then.
HART
Well, tell me about the guys. That's what I'm interested in.
ELIZABETH
Honestly, I'm much smarter than most of them. So I sort of sit back and watch them trying to impress me. It's pretty entertaining.
HART
If I were a college guy, I think I would be afraid of you. This intelligent, mercilessly observant, wickedly unsentimental beauty sitting there evaluating me from somewhere behind those green eyes--annotating all my gaucheries. My God, I would be terrified.
ELIZABETH
Hey, I'm not that intimidating!
HART
Tell me more about this Cooper.
ELIZABETH
This is embarrassing.
HART
I love it when you're embarrassed; you get this scarlet blush that washes up over you; and a second later it's gone.
ELIZABETH
This one might last considerably longer.
HART
I'd love to--