Blue Moon

11/29/2025

If this doesn’t get Ethan Hawke some statuettes this coming winter, then I don’t know what will. He is on great form delivering a pithy series of monologues as if he really were the renowned lyricist Larry Hart. Most of this is told by way of his chat with his favourite barman “Eddie” (Bobby Cannavale) whilst he is waiting for the after show party for “Oklahoma!” to begin. He had famously worked with Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott) for many a year, but this latter man had become tired of his booze-driven histrionics and so teamed up with Oscar Hammerstein II (Simon Delaney) for this latest offering. Now right from the start, I rather liked the enigmatic and flawed Hart. Not least because his critique on “Oklahoma!” is perfectly summed up by his description of an elephant marauding the corn

12/3/2025

Lyricist Lorenz “Larry” Hart (1895-1943) may not be a household name to many, but his voluminous catalog of works written with composer Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) – a bona fide compendium of American musical standards – reads like a laundry list of this country’s most beloved favorites, including “The Lady is a Tramp,” “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” “My Funny Valentine,” “Isn’t It Romantic?” and, of course, the pair’s biggest sensation, “Blue Moon.” But, for all of Hart’s artistic successes, he led a turbulent professional life and a lonely, largely unhappy personal life, perhaps best exemplified by the events of March 31, 1943: opening night of the musical Oklahoma!, the smash hit collaboration of Rodgers and his new lyricist partner, Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960). Rodgers team