''Tip-Toes'' is a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwo ...

with a book by

Guy Bolton Guy Reginald Bolton (23 November 1884 – 4 September 1979) was an Anglo-American playwright and writer of musical comedies. Born in England and educated in France and the US, he trained as an architect but turned to writing. Bolton preferred ...

and

Fred Thompson Freddie Dalton Thompson (August 19, 1942 – November 1, 2015) was an American politician, attorney, lobbyist, columnist, actor, and radio personality. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from Tennessee fr ...

, lyrics by

Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 2 ...

, and music by

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

. It centers on a

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

act composed of Tip-Toes, her brother and her uncle, who try to pass her off as an

aristocrat The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient R ...

to snare a millionaire husband. Farcical complications ensue involving Tip-Toes' temporary amnesia and a marital infidelity subplot. The musical was modestly successful on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in 1925 and in London in 1926. It was quickly adapted as a silent film starring

Dorothy Gish Dorothy Elizabeth Gish (March 11, 1898June 4, 1968) was an American actress of the screen and stage, as well as a director and writer. Dorothy and her older sister Lillian Gish were major movie stars of the silent era. Dorothy also had great s ...

and

Will Rogers William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahom ...

Production history

''Tip-Toes'' was produced by Alex A. Aarons and Vinton Freedley, to satirise the

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

land boom, which was then at its peak. They reunited the creative team of '' Lady, Be Good!'', which had been a hit the previous year with

Fred Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Rod ...

and

Adele Astaire Adele Astaire Douglass (born Adele Marie Austerlitz, later known as Lady Charles Cavendish; September 10, 1896 – January 25, 1981), was an American dancer, stage actress, and singer. After beginning work as a dancer and vaudeville perfor ...

. The

production opened at the

Liberty Theatre The Liberty Theatre is a former Broadway theater at 234 West 42nd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1904, the theater was designed by Herts & Tallant and built for Klaw and Erlanger, the partnersh ...

on December 28, 1925, and ran for 192 performances. It was directed by John Harwood, and the dance numbers were staged by Sammy Lee and Earl Lindsay. The cast included Queenie Smith as Tip-Toes,

Allen Kearns Allen Kearns (14 August 1894 – 20 April 1956) was a Canadian-born singer and actor. He was born in Brockville, Ontario, Canada and died in Albany, New York. He played the romantic lead role in several Broadway musicals and is especially rememb ...

as Steve Burton,

Jeanette MacDonald Jeanette Anna MacDonald (June 18, 1903 – January 14, 1965) was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier (''The Love Parade'', '' Love Me Tonight'', ''The Merry Widow'' and '' On ...

as Sylvia Metcalf, Andrew Tombes as Al, and Harry Watson Jr. as Hen. A West End production featuring Dorothy Dickson, Laddie Cliff, Allan Kearns, John Kirby, Vera Bryer, Peggy Beaty and Evan Thomas opened at the

Winter Garden Theatre The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre at 1634 Broadway in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It opened in 1911 under designs by architect William Albert Swasey. The Winter Garden's current design dates to 1922, when ...

on August 31, 1926, and ran for 182 performances. An Australian production opened at the Victoria Theatre in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, New South Wales, on May 4, 1927, before a national tour. Also in 1927, the show was made into one of the last

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

s, starring

as Tip-Toes (spelled ''Tiptoes'' in the film) and

as Hen. In 1982, original orchestra books for the show were among many documents unearthed in a warehouse in

Secaucus, New Jersey Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264,Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

to celebrate the discovery. In 1998,

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built ...

decided to present the show as part of its two-year Gershwin

Centenary {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at a ...

program, and a full restoration of the project was undertaken by reconciling original programs and scripts with the existing musical materials. Of this performance,

Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...

of the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' said, "the songs and orchestrations have that irresistible fizz that at its perkiest conveys a compressed frenzy of euphoria." In 2001,

New World Records New World Records is a record label that was established in 1975 through a Rockefeller Foundation grant to celebrate America's bicentennial (1976) by producing a 100-LP anthology, with American music from many genres.Sherman Oaks, California Sherman Oaks is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California located in the San Fernando Valley, founded in 1927. The neighborhood includes a portion of the Santa Monica Mountains, which gives Sherman Oaks a lower population density th ...

. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' described the production as "an exuberant reminder of the let's-put-on-a-show spirit characterizing the best musical productions of any era."''Variety'' review
/ref>

Plot summary

;Act I There is a land boom in Florida in roaring 1925. At the train station in upscale Palm Beach, flirtatious Rollo Fish Metcalf is surprised to see his socialite wife, Sylvia, planning to give a party for her millionaire brother, Steve, who is coming to visit her. Steve is set to inherit the family glue factory. Rollo agrees to wait for the vaudevillian entertainers, the "Komical Kayes" (Tip-Toes, her brother Al and Uncle Hen), who are arriving to entertain at Steve's bash. It turns out that Rollo once had a flirtation with Tip-Toes Kaye, who was not at all pleased to find out that he is married, and Sylvia has seen an incriminating photo of the pair. When Rollo sees that Tip-Toes is one of the performers, he pays the troupe to leave. The Kayes are so poor that Tip-Toes had to travel in the luggage to avoid paying for a ticket. They stay in Palm Beach to see if they can find a millionaire for Tip-Toes to marry (they are socially ambitious). Tip-Toes runs into Steve at the station, as he helps her avoid the porter who was trying to get her to pay her fare. She thinks he's swell. Later, people are happily gambling at the Palm Beach Surf Club. Sylvia wants to make Steve appear more sophisticated, so she introduces him to two young ladies, Binnie and Denise, who are to give him lessons at dancing, elocution, music, golf and bridge. Meanwhile, Tip-Toes (pretending to be a wealthy girl, "Roberta Van Renssalaer") plays a game at the club that leads to her being kissed by Steve, who she remembered from the station. The two are immediately and powerfully attracted to each other. Al meets Binnie and Denise, and they all decide to go to the Blues Café. Al and Uncle Hen quarrel after Tip-Toes tells them that she doesn't want to trick Steve now that she really likes him. Tip-Toes is nearly run down by a car. Although she is not seriously injured, she develops amnesia and thinks that she is really Roberta Van Renssalaer. Al and Uncle Hen are happy about this. ;Act II Everyone is getting ready for the party on Steve's yacht the next evening. "Roberta" and Steve are very happy to have found each other. However, since she thinks she is rich, she is spending more money than Al and Uncle Hen have. Rollo discloses Tip-Toes' real identity to Steve, in order to protect his secret, but Steve is despondent. He confronts Tip-Toes, who now remembers who she is, but she tells him that she really loves him and is not after his fortune. Steve reveals that he is bankrupt. He tells her to go after one of the other millionaires at the bash and storms off. Tip-Toes stays aboard the yacht all evening, and when Steve returns, she insists that she loves him and will stay aboard all night "without a chaperone". He is persuaded that she is telling the truth. Back at the hotel the following day, Tip-Toes pays her family's hotel bill by performing one of her dances for the guests. Steve proposes and gives her an engagement ring. She is delighted, even though she assumes that it is a fake, since Steve has no money. But it turns out to be real, because Steve is really still a millionaire.

Song list

;Act I *Waiting for the Train – Company *Nice Baby – Sylvia, Rollo, Chorus * Looking For a Boy – Tip-Toes *Lady Luck – Guests *When Do We Dance? – Steve, Binnie, Denise, Guests *These Charming People – Tip-Toes, Al, Hen * That Certain Feeling – Tip-Toes, Steve *Sweet and Low Down – Al, Denise, Binnie, Peggy, Guests *Finale – Company ;Act II *Our Little Captain – Tip-Toes, Boys *Looking for a Boy (Reprise) – Tip-Toes, Steve *It's a Great Little World – Steve, Sylvia, Al, Binnie, Denise, Chorus *Nighty-Night – Tip-Toes, Steve *Tip-Toes – Tip-Toes, Chorus *Finale – Company

References

External links

Internet Broadway Database entryProduction history and detailed synopsis
{{Authority control 1925 musicals Broadway musicals West End musicals Musicals by George and Ira Gershwin Musicals set in the Roaring Twenties