Romance in Hard Times

Romance in Hard Times
Playbill of Romance in Hard Times
MusicWilliam Finn
LyricsWilliam Finn
BookWilliam Finn
Productions1983 Playwrights Horizons (as America Kicks Up Its Heels)
1989 Off-Broadway
2014 Barrington Stage Company

Romance in Hard Times is a musical with music, lyrics, and book by William Finn, set in a Depression-era soup kitchen. An earlier version, America Kicks Up Its Heels, was developed at Playwrights Horizons in the early 1980s before Finn substantially reworked it for Joseph Papp and the Public Theater in 1989.

Background

Playwrights Horizons first developed the material in 1982 under the title America Kicks Up Its Heels, a book musical with music and lyrics by William Finn and a book by Charles Rubin.[1][2] Following that production's troubled run, discussed below, Finn spent several years reworking the material with Joseph Papp and the Public Theater's New York Shakespeare Festival, eventually retitling it Romance in Hard Times.[3]

Productions

America Kicks Up Its Heels (1983)

The original version, America Kicks Up Its Heels, gave preview performances at Playwrights Horizons from March 3 through March 27, 1983, before its official opening was cancelled; the production played 28 preview performances and never formally opened.[1][2][4] Directed by Mary Kyte and Ben Levit and choreographed by Kyte, with musical direction and orchestrations by Michael Starobin, scenic and costume design by Santo Loquasto, and lighting by Frances Aronson, the production was commissioned by Playwrights Horizons with funding from the Nicholas Gagarin Fellowship, under artistic director André Bishop, managing director Paul Daniels, and musical theatre program director Ira Weitzman, and starred Patti LuPone.[1][2][5] Stage management was credited to Johnna Murray and Arturo E. Porazzi.[a] According to critic Don Shewey, the production went through three months of rehearsal and three different directors before its opening was scrapped; Variety reported the situation under the headline "Finn Musical Nix Crix."[6] Shewey, while praising LuPone's and Lenora Nemetz's performances, judged the show "truly directionless."[6]

CharacterCast[b]
CleoPatti LuPone
BorisDick Latessa
Eleanor RooseveltPeggy Hewett
ZoeAlix Korey[c]
PollyI. M. Hobson
ThyraRobin Boudreau
HennieLenora Nemetz
JulieRobert Dorfman
HarlanRodney Hudson

Musical numbers, per Dan Dietz's reference history, reflecting the production's original 1983 program:[1]

Act I
  • "All of Us Are Niggers" – Ensemble
  • "Put It Together" – Boris, Cleo
  • "Eleanor Roosevelt (A Discussion of Soup)" – Eleanor, Harlan, Ensemble
  • "A Better World" – Hennie, Boris, Cleo, Thyra
  • "Cutting Hair" (a recitative) – Ensemble
  • "Red Faces at the Kremlin" – Polly, Ensemble
  • "Lullaby" – Zoe
  • "America, Kick Up Your Heels" – Cleo
  • "Papa, You Won" – Cleo, Boris, Ensemble
  • "Daddy and Me" – Thyra, Cleo
  • "Push and Pull" (a recitative) – Boris, Harlan
  • "All Fall Down" – Zoe
  • "The Depression Is Over" – Boris, Ensemble
Act II
  • "I Don't Want to Be Fired Again" – Cleo, Ensemble
  • "Happiest Moment of My Life" – Boris, Ensemble
  • "Ask Me No Question" – Harlan
  • "Pull It Together" (a response) – Eleanor, Cleo, Ensemble
  • "Nobody's Ever Gonna Step on Me" – Hennie
  • "Why" – Eleanor, Polly, Hennie, Julie, Ensemble
  • "It Was Fun" – Thyra, Boris, Cleo
  • "America, Kick Up Your Heels" (a choral arrangement, reprise) – Julie, Hennie, Harlan, Eleanor, Polly, Zoe, Thyra, Boris
  • "My Day Has Come" – Cleo
  • "Papa Says" – Boris, Cleo, Thyra
  • "All of Us Are Brothers" – Ensemble

During the run, the score was substantially revised: a later program indicates the action was reset to take place only in the present, with "Lullaby," "Papa, You Won," "Daddy and Me," and "All of Us Are Brothers" dropped and "Sex Stories in Hard Times" inserted before "Nobody's Ever Gonna Step on Me."[1][7]

Development into Romance in Hard Times (1986–1989)

Following America Kicks Up Its Heels's troubled 1983 run, Joseph Papp and the Public Theater's New York Shakespeare Festival took up the piece, developing it over several years through unstaged readings and, eventually, a staged workshop production.[3] As early as August 1986, Peggy Hewett had been cast in the show, at that point titled Famous Moms of History, as "a tap-dancing Eleanor Roosevelt."[8] The show received a reading under that title at the Public Theater's Studio A on December 12, 1986, with a book credited jointly to Finn and Charles Rubin.[9] A second reading, on November 20, 1987, was held under the alternate titles Topsy-Turvy and A Better World, with the script again co-credited to Rubin and Finn.[9] By a third reading on October 21, 1988, the piece had been retitled Romance in Hard Times; Rubin's credit no longer appears in the archive's description of this or later versions, consistent with Finn's having taken over book-writing duties sometime in the intervening year.[9] The Festival's script archive holds numerous further revisions dated between January and December 1989, spanning both the Anspacher and Newman engagements discussed below, with the latest surviving draft dated December 13, 1989, two weeks before the show's official opening.[9]

Under Papp and the festival's resident musical-theater director Wilford Leach, the show was substantially reworked: unlike America Kicks Up Its Heels, the revised version was set entirely in a Depression-era soup kitchen with no contemporary framing story, and the cast shifted from predominantly white to predominantly Black at Leach's suggestion; David Warren took over as director in the summer of 1988 following Leach's death.[3][1][10] Finn told Stasio that he had omitted a parallel story about homeless people in the 1980s that had been part of the earlier version, and shifted the score's sound from a traditional theater idiom toward gospel, jazz, and ragtime as he wrote for the new cast's voices.[3] In a separate account, Finn similarly recalled that the earlier version had combined the Depression-era soup kitchen story with a contemporary narrative before he chose to focus solely on the earlier setting, and said he rewrote most of the earlier score for the new cast with the exception of a handful of numbers originally written for the 1983 production's white characters, among them "All Fall Down."[10]

Of the earlier production's twenty-four musical numbers, three ("Red Faces in the Kremlin," "Eleanor Roosevelt: A Discussion of Soup," and "All Fall Down") were carried over to the Public Theater version under the same titles, though "Red Faces in the Kremlin" was itself cut at some point during the later Newman Theatre run.[1][11][12] A fourth melody also carried over under a new title, from "All of Us Are Niggers" to "All of Us Are Losers," though this number was likewise cut during that run.[13] By the time the show closed, only Peggy Hewett and Alix Korey remained as holdover cast members from the 1983 production.[1]

Anspacher Theatre (1989)

The reworked musical, now titled Romance in Hard Times, was presented as the first production in Papp's newly launched "musical laboratories" series at the Public Theater's Anspacher Theater, running from May 31 to June 18, 1989, for 19 performances; the presentation was open to the public but not reviewed by critics.[14][15] David Warren directed, reusing and redressing the set built for the Anspacher's immediately preceding production, an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale directed by James Lapine, on which Finn had recently worked as a composer, with choreography by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, musical direction by Ted Sperling, vocal arrangements by Dan Moses Schreier, costumes by David C. Woolard, lighting by Peter Kaczorowski, and sound by Schreier.[14][15][3] Lillias White joined the production for this engagement in the central role of Hennie.[3] The fourteen-actor cast featured singing and dancing versions of Eleanor Roosevelt, the Duke of Windsor, Babe Ruth, Shirley Temple, and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson; the Duke of Windsor did not appear in the subsequent Newman Theatre remount.[15] Papp, hoping the production might eventually transfer to Broadway, opened the final week of performances to producers and theater owners, with audience discussions following each show.[15]

Newman Theatre (1989)

The production was remounted at the Public's larger Newman Theater, beginning preview performances on November 14, 1989, and officially opening on December 28, 1989,[1][3][16][d] it played only six performances following its opening before closing.[1] Warren, Dodge, Woolard, Kaczorowski, and Sperling returned, joined by scenic designer James Youmans, whose new two-story setting replaced the redressed set of the Anspacher engagement, orchestrator Bruce Coughlin, sound designer John Kilgore, and projection designer Wendall K. Harrington, with casting by Rosemarie Tichler and Jordan Thaler.[1][18][19] The production was underwritten in part by a grant from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, with additional funding from the Eleanor Naylor Dana Charitable Trust, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts.[19] The production featured a cast of fourteen and a twelve-member orchestra.[3] Victor Trent Cook, who had been with the production since an earlier 1987 reading, was given a solo number after being brought out from the chorus for this staging.[3] For her performance as Hennie, White won the 1990 Obie Award for Distinguished Performance.[20]

CharacterAnspacher Theatre
(May–June 1989)		Newman Theatre
(Nov–Dec 1989)
HennieLillias White
HarveyLawrence Clayton
BorisVondie Curtis-Hall[e]Cleavant Derricks
ZoeAlix Korey
Eleanor RooseveltPeggy Hewett
PollyTimothy Jerome[f]Ray Gill[g]
GusMichael Mandell[h]
The KidVictor Trent Cook
Older Handcuffed SisterChiara Peacock or Andi Henig[i]Amanda Naughton
Younger Handcuffed SisterChiara Peacock or Andi Henig[i]Stacey Lynn Brass
Harmonizing Fools, Radio Announcers, Supreme Court Justices, Prisoners and CelebritiesRufus Bonds Jr., Victor Trent Cook, Melodee Savage, John Sloman, James Stovall[j]Rufus Bonds Jr. (also Bojangles Robinson), Victor Trent Cook, Melodee Savage (also Shirley Temple), John Sloman (also Babe Ruth), James Stovall (also Franklin D. Roosevelt)

Musical numbers, as performed at the Newman Theatre, documented on an archival audio recording of the production:[24]

  • "Overture"
  • "Harvey"
  • "Standing in Line"
  • "Out of Here"
  • "Harvey Promised to Change the World"
  • "The Supreme Court Saved From Fire"
  • "Goodbye"
  • "Charity Quartet"
  • "Lovesong"
  • "Charity Quartet" (reprise)
  • "Eleanor Roosevelt: A Discussion of Soup"
  • "I Never Said I Didn't Love You"
  • "You Got Me Crazy"
  • "That's Enough for Me"
  • "Places I Fainted From Hunger" / "Time Passes"
  • "All Fall Down"
  • "The Good Times Are Here"
  • "Feelin' Rich"
  • "Hold My Baby Back"
  • "Hennie Soup"
  • "Thinking of You"
  • "Time Passes" (reprise)
  • "I Don't Want to Feel What I Feel"
  • "The Prosperity Song"
  • "A Gaggle of Celebrities"
  • "I'll Get You Out of My Life"
  • "News Flash"
  • "How Could You Do This to Someone Who Robbed for You? (Prison Music)"
  • "Blame It on These Times"
  • "Another Celebrity Song"
  • "Bad News Ballet"
  • Soup Kitchen Breakdown: "Standing in Line" (reprise)
  • "You Can't Let Romance Die"
  • "That's Enough for Me" (duet)
  • Finale: "The Supreme Court Saved From Fire" (reprise) / "You Can't Let Romance Die" (reprise)
  • Curtain Call
  • Exit Music

Ovrtur's own listing for the production designates eleven numbers as cut during the run, several carried over from the earlier America Kicks Up Its Heels or from intermediate readings: "All of Us Are Losers," "Red Faces in the Kremlin," "I Will Make You Rich," "The New World Ain't Coming Soon," "Stop Kicking," "Vote for Polly," "In the Nick of Time," "That's Why We Do the Things We Do," "Gus' Triumph," "The Last Can a Hennie Soup" [sic; probably "The Last Can of Hennie Soup"], and "All of Us Are Brothers."[11] The New York Shakespeare Festival's archived orchestral parts corroborate the disappearance of several of these titles — "Red Faces in the Kremlin," "I Will Make You Rich," "Vote for Polly," "That's Why We Do the Things We Do," and "The New World" — between materials associated with the May 1989 Anspacher engagement and the revised parts prepared for the November–December Newman run; the remaining titles are not present under those names in either archived edition and may have been cut earlier in the show's development.[12]

Barrington Stage Company (2014)

The musical was revived at Finn's Barrington Stage Company Musical Theatre Lab from August 14 to 31, 2014, with a new book by The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee collaborator Rachel Sheinkin, directed by Joe Calarco, choreographed by Josh Prince, with musical direction by Jeff Tanski.[25][26] The cast featured David Benoit, Lance Fletke, Alan H. Green, Demond Green, Anne Kanengeiser, Theresa Kloos, Alix Korey, Andrea Leach, Michael Mandell, Christina Acosta Robinson, Aaron Serotsky, Matthew Gregory, Gabriel Elizabeth Kadian, and Jordana McMahon.[26] Director Joe Calarco, who said he had not seen the original production before taking on the revival, described Romance in Hard Times as "a legendary piece" among those who had.[27]

Plot summary

The musical is set in a Depression-era soup kitchen in New York City. Hennie, who has just learned she is pregnant, is married to Harvey, who has stopped speaking because he feels unable to provide for his family; a third principal character, Boris, is a hapless but persistent suitor in love with Hennie.[28] Amid a mix of comic mishaps and real misfortune, Hennie ultimately resolves not to give birth until the world becomes a better place, delaying the birth for months past term.[28] A supporting ensemble, including Zoe, Polly, the Handcuffed Sisters, Gus, the Kid, and a fictionalized Eleanor Roosevelt, attempts to help Hennie find a reason to bring her child into the world.[28][18]

Critical reception

Reviewing the Newman Theater production for The New York Times, Frank Rich contrasted the show unfavorably with Finn's earlier March of the Falsettos, writing that where the 1981 musical achieved its effect through simplicity, Romance in Hard Times was "wildly overproduced" and unable to muster a single coherent character, theme, or plot development.[18] He praised the vocal performances of White, Derricks, and newcomer Victor Trent Cook, and singled out Alix Korey's number "All Fall Down," sung by Zoe, a socialite whose fortune is wiped out by the 1929 crash, as the score's most cutting and autobiographical song, though he felt it was misplaced on a secondary character.[18] Rich also noted that the production, for all its predominantly Black cast, had little to say about the specific experience of Black Americans during the Depression.[18]

Thomas S. Hischak later wrote that the script "was a mess" by the time the show reached its final form, though he praised the performances of White and Korey as "outstanding."[29] He judged the finished musical "hardly worth saving," though he felt Finn's score deserved to be heard in full, and noted that the production closed without a cast recording.[29] Dietz similarly concluded that the revised production "fared poorly" and that Finn abandoned the project entirely after its failure.[1]

In a 1992 interview, several years after the show's poor reception, Finn offered a mixed retrospective judgment, saying "the show wasn't perfect, but parts were brilliant. The score was spectacular."[30] He also recalled that he happened to have jury duty on the day the reviews appeared, and later joked that being confined to a courthouse that day had kept him from doing anything drastic in response.[30]

Recordings and legacy

Alix Korey, who had originated the role of Zoe in both the 1983 and 1989 productions, included "All Fall Down" on her 1990 solo album Songs You Might Have Missed, produced by David Friedman, Randy Hansen, and Korey; the album was reissued in 1996 on Original Cast Records and again in 2007.[31][32]

Although neither America Kicks Up Its Heels nor Romance in Hard Times received a cast recording, two songs from the score — "All Fall Down" and "That's Enough for Me" — were later included in two separate William Finn revues. Both songs appeared in Infinite Joy: The Songs of William Finn, recorded live at Joe's Pub in January 2001 and released on RCA Victor, sung respectively by Mary Testa and Wanda Houston.[33] Both songs were performed again, by Sandy Binion, in Make Me a Song: The Music of William Finn, which ran off-Broadway at New World Stages in 2007 and was released as a two-disc cast recording by Ghostlight Records in 2008.[34] In 2002, critic Peter Filichia listed "All Fall Down" among 100 show songs he felt deserved wider recognition, calling it "Finn's harrowing account of how the Depression depressed one family."[35]

In 2011, Lisa Howard included two songs from Romance in Hard Times on her solo album Songs of Innocence & Experience: The Music of William Finn, released by Ghostlight Records: "Hold My Baby Back," and, in a medley with Falsettoland's "Father to Son," "That's Enough for Me."[36][37] Howard obtained the score directly from music director Ted Sperling.[36]

On April 4, 2011, Amas Musical Theatre presented a benefit concert of songs from Romance in Hard Times, titled "Blast from the Past," at the Baruch Performing Arts Center in New York, as part of a gala marking the centennial of the company's founder, Rosetta LeNoire, and honoring George C. Wolfe with the Rosie Award.[38] The concert was led by Lillias White and reunited four other original cast members (Victor Trent Cook, Alix Korey, Timothy Jerome, and Michael Mandell) alongside a supporting cast of Broadway performers, under music director Matt Castle and director Michael Bush.[38][39]

In a 2014 interview, White recalled her enthusiasm for the role of Hennie and said she loved working with Finn, whom she described as "so creative and a little nutsy."[40]

Notes

  1. ↑ The Lortel Archive also credits Boudreau as a stage manager; the original Showbill lists her only as an actress.[2][5]
  2. ↑ Cast list per the original 1983 Playwrights Horizons Showbill program.[5]
  3. ↑ Contemporary programs and Dietz credit her as "Alexandra Korey"; later sources use "Alix Korey."[5][1]
  4. ↑ The Lortel Archive gives the closing date as December 17, 1989, which predates its own recorded opening date.[17]
  5. ↑ Confirmed by a live audience recording of the Anspacher cast on Ovrtur and a New York Public Library archival recording of Curtis-Hall performing the role.[21][22]
  6. ↑ Confirmed by a live audience recording of the Anspacher cast on Ovrtur and a New York Public Library archival recording of Jerome performing the role.[21][23]
  7. ↑ Rich and Dietz differ on whether Gill or J. P. Dougherty played Polly by the run's end; the printed Playbill lists Gill.[18][1][19]
  8. ↑ Mandell's Anspacher casting is confirmed by the Lortel Archive; his role as Gus, by Ovrtur.[14][11]
  9. 1 2 The Anspacher run had no separate ensemble category; Peacock and Henig likely filled the Handcuffed Sisters roles, though which actress played which is unclear.[14]
  10. ↑ Confirmed for the Anspacher cast by a live audience recording on Ovrtur; specific role assignments for that run are undocumented.[21]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Dietz, Dan (2010). Off-Broadway Musicals, 1910–2007: Casts, Credits, Songs, Critical Reception and Performance Data of More Than 1,800 Shows. McFarland. pp. 41, 1375–1377.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "America Kicks Up Its Heels (1983)". Spectra (Lortel Archive). Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Stasio, Marilyn (1989-12-24). "A New Musical Finds Comedy And Romance in Hard Times". The New York Times. p. Section 2, p. 4.
  4. ↑ "America Kicks Up Its Heels". Playwrights Horizons.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Playwrights Horizons Showbill, America Kicks Up Its Heels, March 1983.
  6. 1 2 Shewey, Don (1983). "Can Playwrights Horizons Survive Success?". The Village Voice.
  7. ↑ Playwrights Horizons Showbill, America Kicks Up Its Heels, March 1983 (revised program, indicating the action taking place only in the present).
  8. ↑ Robertson, Nan (1986-08-15). "Broadway". The New York Times. p. Section C, p. 2.
  9. 1 2 3 4 New York Shakespeare Festival records, Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
  10. 1 2 Viagas, Robert (2004-02-10). "Stage to Page: Playbill On-Line's Brief Encounter with William Finn". Playbill. Retrieved 2026-07-06.
  11. 1 2 3 "Romance in Hard Times (Finn, 1989)". Ovrtur. Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  12. 1 2 "New York Shakespeare Festival music scores, 1965-1991". New York Public Library Archives & Manuscripts, Billy Rose Theatre Division. Retrieved 2026-07-06.
  13. ↑ ""All of Us Are Niggers" from America Kicks Up Its Heels (Finn, 1983)". Ovrtur. Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "Romance in Hard Times (1989) – Anspacher Theater". Spectra (Lortel Archive). Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Rothstein, Mervyn (1989-06-13). "In Papp 'Laboratories,' Musicals Come to Life". The New York Times. p. C15.
  16. ↑ "Romance in Hard Times: performance". New York Public Library Research Catalog.
  17. ↑ "Romance in Hard Times (1989) – Newman Theater". Spectra (Lortel Archive). Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rich, Frank (1989-12-29). "Review/Theater; From Author of 'Falsettos,' A Musical About the 1930's". The New York Times. p. Section C, p. 3.
  19. 1 2 3 Playbill, Romance in Hard Times, The Public Theater/Newman Theater, November 1989.
  20. ↑ "Lillias White". Broadway Artists Alliance.
  21. 1 2 3 "Romance in Hard Times – Original Cast (Anspacher Theatre) (1989)". Ovrtur. Retrieved 2026-07-06.
  22. ↑ "Romance in Hard Times [sound recording]: master tape". New York Public Library Research Catalog. Retrieved 2026-07-06.
  23. ↑ "Romance in Hard Times [sound recording]: master tape". New York Public Library Research Catalog. Retrieved 2026-07-06.
  24. ↑ "Romance in Hard Times – 1989 Off-Broadway Cast". CastAlbums.org. Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  25. ↑ "William Finn revisits 'Romance in Hard Times' with a new book by Rachel Sheinkin at Barrington Stage; Aug. 14–31". Barrington Stage Company. Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  26. 1 2 "William Finn's Re-Imagined Romance in Hard Times Musical Begins Performances Aug. 14". Playbill. Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  27. ↑ "'Romance in Hard Times' re-imagined at Barrington Stage". The Berkshire Eagle. 2014-08-14.
  28. 1 2 3 "Romance in Hard Times (Finn, 1989)". Ovrtur. Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  29. 1 2 Hischak, Thomas S. (2011). Off-Broadway Musicals Since 1919: From Greenwich Village Follies to The Toxic Avenger. Scarecrow Press. p. 254.
  30. 1 2 Henry, William A. III (1992-05-11). "The Quirky William Finn". Time.
  31. ↑ "Songs You Might Have Missed – Alix Korey". AllMusic. Retrieved 2026-07-06.
  32. ↑ "Songs You Might Have Missed (1992, Alix Korey)". CastAlbums.org. Retrieved 2026-07-06.
  33. ↑ Ruhlmann, William. "Infinite Joy: The Songs of William Finn". AllMusic. Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  34. ↑ Ruhlmann, William. "Make Me a Song: The Music of William Finn (Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording)". AllMusic. Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  35. ↑ Filichia, Peter (2002-05-06). "100 Songs That Deserve to Be All-Time Show Favorites". TheaterMania. Retrieved 2026-07-06.
  36. 1 2 "Sound Off Special Interview: Lisa Howard on William Finn Album, Twilight: Breaking Dawn, and More!". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  37. ↑ "Photo Call: Lisa Howard Celebrates CD Release, With Help From Tituss Burgess, Jessica-Snow Wilson and Derrick Baskin". Playbill. Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  38. 1 2 "Blast From the Past Benefit Concert: Romance in Hard Times by William Finn Starring Lillias White". TheaterMania. Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  39. ↑ "Lillias White, Victor Trent Cooke, Alix Korey Celebrate Romance in Hard Times April 4". Playbill. Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  40. ↑ Shapiro, Eddie (2014). Nothing Like a Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater. Oxford University Press. p. 210.
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