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High Button Shoes

Full-Length Musical, Comedy  /  2w, 5m plus ensemble

Music by Jule Styne
Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
Book by Stephen Longstreet

A rollicking homage to the silent-movie era, High Button Shoes unravels the comic entanglements of two con artists and an upstanding family in Atlantic City in 1913.

High Button Shoes

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    2w, 5m plus ensemble
  • Duration
    Duration
    More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Farce, Romantic Comedy
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Appropriate for All Audiences
Accolades
Accolades
  • Winner! 1948 Tony Award for Best Choreography (Jerome Robbins)
    Winner! 1948 Theater World Award (Mark Dawson)
High Button Shoes

Details

Summary
Based on Stephen Longstreet’s 1946 novel The Sisters Liked Them Handsome, High Button Shoes is a wacky tribute to Mack Sennett’s brand of screwball comedy. The score, which hilariously incorporates themes by Franz Liszt and Jacques Offenbach, features a string of delightful Jule Styne/Sammy Cahn numbers, including “Papa, Won’t You Dance With Me?,” “I Still Get Jealous” and “On A Sunday By The Sea” (a.k.a. “The Bathing Beauty Ballet”).
History
High Button Shoes opened on Broadway at the New Century Theatre on 9 October 1947, starring Phil Silvers and Nanette Fabray. The show later moved to the Shubert Theatre and the Broadway Theatre, playing a total of 727 performances.
Keywords
Performing Groups
  • Time Period 1910s/WWI
  • Setting
    New Brunswick and Atlantic City, New Jersey. 1913.
  • Features Period Costumes
  • Duration More than 120 minutes (2 hours)

Music

Music Samples

  • Musical Style Classic Broadway
  • Dance Requirements Difficult
  • Vocal DemandsDifficult
  • Orchestra Size Large
  • Chorus Size Large

Licensing & Materials

  • Licensing fees and rental materials quoted upon application.

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Authors

Jule Styne

Jule Styne

Jule Styne (1905-1994) made Broadway sing for 50 years with shows including High Button Shoes; Gentlemen Prefer Blondes; Hazel Flagg; Gypsy; Peter Pan; Bells Are Ringing; Do Re Mi; Subways Are For Sleeping; Funny Girl; Fade Out-Fade In; Hallelujah, Baby!; The Red Shoes; and D ...

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Sammy Cahn

Sammy Cahn
Sammy Cahn (1913-1993) was an American composer and lyricist. His best-known songs were recorded by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Doris Day and many others. Among his most popular numbers is “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!,” co-written with Jule Styne in 1945. He played ...
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Stephen Longstreet

Stephen Longstreet

STEPHEN LONGSTREET was an artist, screenwriter and author of more than 100 works of fiction and non-fiction. An artist by training, Longstreet started writing during the Great Depression in order to make a living, creating radio scripts, film reviews and detective novels. Dur ...

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