35^th Festival Season - 2013

LADY, BE GOOD!

Music by George Gershwin

Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

Book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson

ACT I: On the sidewalk of a New England town, in front of the Trevor house, girls are selling buttons as part of a charity bazaar. One of the girls, Shirley, begins chatting with Dick Trevor. They are in love, but Dick is down on his luck, with little money - any thoughts of marriage are out of the question. Sherriff's assistant Bertie Bassett and his coworkers are in the process of evicting Dick and his sister Susie from their childhood home - they have not paid the rent in seven months. They will make do with establishing living quarters on the sidewalk, and will try to pick up some food at a party being thrown that evening by socialite Jo Vanderwater. A tramp named Jack Robinson wanders by and commiserates with Susie, as they kiddingly talk of marrying and jumping freights together. No sooner has Jack left than a crew from Life magazine wanders by and, with a promise of payment, begins to film Susie and her new home for a feature article. She reveals that she and Dick are orphans, born rich, but with nothing to show for it now. Dick and Susie try to make the best of the situation - if they hang on to each other, the rain will turn to sunshine. At the Jo Vanderwater party, Dick and Susie are ecstatic to learn that it is a buffet and that they will be able to stuff their pockets with food. Jo's lawyer, Watty Watkins, pleads with her to help the pair. She reveals that it was she, in fact, who had them evicted. She is in love with Dick, but cannot get him to propose to her; now, maybe, he will have no choice, despite his feelings for Shirley. Bertie and his girlfriend Daisy arrive and agree with Dick and Susie to bury the hatchet. Daisy entertains the guests with a song whose fascinating rhythm has her on the go. Jack crashes the party and tracks down Susie. Before he hops the next train out of town, he wants to make sure that she will think of him while he is gone. Dick, meanwhile, seeing no alternative, has asked Jo to marry him. Susie, to save her brother, agrees to a wild plan by the scheming Watty, whereby, for a sizable payoff, she will impersonate a Mexican widow for the purpose of gaining an inheritance and thus getting Watty out of a jam.

ACT II: At the Robinson Hotel in Eastern Harbor, Watty is working with Susie on her Mexican costume and impersonation. Dick, unaware of her involvement in Watty's scheme, is confused by her actions, but joins her in a Charleston. Shirley and Dick are resigned to his marrying Jo, but confess to each other that they have a bad case of the blues. The trustee for the estate of the late Seth Robinson arrives to meet Watty and Jack's widow for the purpose of settling the inheritance. The designated heir was to be Jack Robinson, but all believe that he was killed in Mexico, so that the inheritance passes instead to Jack's widow. Susie's impersonation of the widow convinces the gullible trustee, but complications arise when Jack shows up. Quite surprised when told that his "widow" is present, he eventually confronts Susie and, to get Watty and Susie off the hook for fraud, claims that she really is his wife. Fast forward ... all ends happily with plans for a quadruple wedding: Dick and Shirley, Susie and Jack, Bertie and Daisy, and Watty and Jo.