The Bunch and Judy: History and Key Facts

The Bunch and Judy is a musical comedy in two acts with book by Anne Caldwell and R. H. Burnside, lyrics by Anne Caldwell, and music by Jerome Kern. The story centered on a Broadway starlet, who marries a Scottish nobleman, only to grow disenchanted and return to show business and the man she loves.

The show was produced by Charles Dillingham at the Globe Theater, and opened November 28, 1922. The musical director was Victor Baravalle and the music was orchestrated by Stephan Jones and Victor Baravalle. The show was staged by Fred G. Latham. Scenic design by Frank E. Gates, and Edward A. Morange. Costume design by Wanamaker, Paul Poiret, and George Barber. It ran for 63 performances, closing on January 20, 1923.

The cast was headlined by Fred Astaire (Gerald Lane), Adele Astaire (Judy Jordan), and Philip Tonge (Lord Kinlock). The Astaire siblings played the romantic couple. Gerald Bordman reports that "Broadway’s critics were not bowled over. Although many headlines implied reviews would be raves, notices themselves were filled with qualifications. Most of the enthusiasm was reserved for the Astaires. When it came to Kern's score, the critics were generally unhappy". Bordman goes on to state that he agrees with the critical consensus, stating that most of the score is either pallid, unremarkable, or taken from Kern's earlier compositions.

Source and attribution

Text excerpted from The Bunch and Judy by Wikipedia contributors, available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. The extract is abridged and formatting has been adjusted; the adapted text on this page is shared under the same licence. Revision history.