"Before Rodgers and Hammerstein earned praise as the greatest musical theater duo of the 20th century, there was Rodgers and Hart. Dick Rodgers composed, and Lorenz Hart wrote the lyrics to around a thousand songs, including "My Funny Valentine" and "Blue Moon" which lends its name to Richard Linklater's new film about Hart. Ethan Hawke, who has appeared in several Linklater films, stars as a man consumed by regret who spirals into bitter monologues on the opening night of Oklahoma!"
""It was this little howl into the night of an artist being left behind. It was sad and beautiful and witty and irreverent and what a character," Linklater told Morning Edition host Leila Fadel about the script he received in the 2010s from Robert Kaplow. "For over a decade, we just kind of kept working on it and eventually its time had come.""
"Blue Moon unfolds almost entirely inside of the Broadway staple Sardi's, where Hart simply known as Larry in the film drinks at the nearly empty bar and waxes lyrical about his work, artists he's met and an impending sense of doom. The scene is moody and unravels like a carefully scripted play where Hart appears to be both aware of his greatness and on the brink of collapse."
Blue Moon portrays Lorenz Hart as a man consumed by regret who spirals into bitter monologues on the opening night of Oklahoma! The film frames Hart's decline around the professional split when Richard Rodgers partnered with Oscar Hammerstein II in 1943, leaving Hart behind. Hart, alternately witty and self-aware, drinks at Sardi's and reflects on his work, his relationships with other artists, and an impending sense of doom. The story emphasizes artistic breakup, alcoholism, and unreliability as forces that eroded a prolific partnership. The production grew from Robert Kaplow's script and Linklater's long-term development, with Ethan Hawke starring as Hart.
Read at www.npr.org
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