· · ·
turning to page one
turning to page one
BLUE MOON · written by Robert Kaplow · 2025
Scene 23 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.
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.
Hart meets George, advises the future director to favor friendship stories, and draws Elizabeth aside to hear about Cooper.
This scene
Voices. Oscar Hammerstein and his 12-year-old protege pass by the coat-room area.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Elizabeth, Larry... I hope I'm not interrupting anything too weighty.
HART
Well, weighty affairs will have to wait!
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
(re: Elizabeth)
She's a gem, isn't she?
ELIZABETH
Please, Mr. Hammerstein.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
I'll only bother you for a moment.
(to Larry)
Larry, I just wanted to say...well, firstly, I recognize this must be a difficult night for you.
Some singing now from upstairs: "People Will Say We're in Love."
HART
No, I'm a professional, Oscar. We're both professionals, we understand the nature of our business.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Larry, did you really like the show? I don't think I do the comedy numbers half as well as you do. They're not my strength.
HART
I laughed my ass off. I had to have it re-attached.
The little kid, STEVIE, snorts derisively at this brave attempt at humor.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Larry, we're the same age, but you were always the teacher.
HART
Oh, Oscar--
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
No, your whole career, you showed us the way.
HART
Well I doubt--
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
You liberated us all; you made American songs finally sound like American speech.
HART
Stop. I dislike eulogies, especially my own. Oscar, tonight is your night. A hit for you and Dick is a hit for all of us. People finally want to go see shows again! Real shows. Dick and I were just tossing around a few ideas.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Wonderful.
HART
Yeah, we have this idea for a big...Marco Polo show...huge...a kind of musical circus. Dick's excited about it. He said you're adapting Liliom.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Well, if we can finagle the rights.
ELIZABETH
Sounds exciting.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Elizabeth told me she's your protege!
ELIZABETH
Stop!
HART
(recites grandly)
"...she's the promised kiss of springtime/that makes the lonely winter/seem long."
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Oh, please!
HART
You wrote a great lyric!
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
For a show that didn't run three months!
HART
I saw it twice.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
(to Stevie)
You know what we're talking about here, Stevie?
The boy is unpleasantly precocious.
STEVIE
Very Warm for May. Produced by Max Gordon. Music by Jerome Kern. Alvin Theatre. 59 performances.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
(re: Stevie)
This is my neighbor. He's a kind of a walking encyclopedia of musical theater.
HART
(shakes Stevie's hand)
Well I'm a kind of walking pneumonia of musical theater. Nice to meet you.
STEVIE
Pleasure to meet you.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
He wants to write musicals when he grows up.
HART
Who's your favorite lyricist?
STEVIE
Oscar.
HART
Of course. And what do you think of my work?
STEVIE
I like it. It's funny.
HART
Thank you.
STEVIE
Can be a little sloppy at times.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
(desperately covering for Stevie's tactlessness)
He's very tired! It's been a long day. Come on, Stevie! It's a long ride back to Doylestown. You want to go to the bathroom.
Hammerstein leads him away.
STEVIE
(exiting)
I'm not tired. He asked me what I thought of his work...
As they walk away.
STEVIE (CONT'D)
(scornfully)
"Weighty affairs will just have to wait"?
They've gone.