Response
Ethan Mordden observed in his book Coming Up Roses:The Broadway Musical in the 1950s (Oxford University Press): "Something went wrong, because after a hectic tryout period the show opened in New York to tepid reviews, and the gala score couldn't produce a single hit. (It had had one till Abbott threw out "From This Moment On" in Boston, apparently because William Eythe, a non-singer, was killing his half of the whirlwind love duet. Why didn't Abbott reassign the number to Redfield and Ashley, whose characters it would in fact have suited?) I blame Dwight Taylor, for his original plan was misconceived and humorless...It was too silly, too given to masquerade and unmotivated appearances, as 1920s musicals had been."
In the role of Juno, eccentric dancer Charlotte Greenwood's hit comic numbers were "Nobody's Chasing Me", "Climb Up The Mountain", and "I Sleep Easier Now". Brooks Atkinson described Greenwood's performance as "warmhearted clowning"; she "throws her head back when she plunges into a song. She plays a few tricks with a collapsible camera tripod. She moves around the stage in a sort of grotesque crouch. And once, in the happiest moment of the show, she swings those long legs in a cartwheel-motion that delighted New Yorkers after the first World War, and delights New Yorkers of today."
Read more about this topic: Out Of This World (musical)
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