Editorial Reviews

Of Rodgers & Hammerstein's three relative flops, Allegro, Me and Juliet, and Pipe Dream, Me and Juliet was the most successful. In fact, it broke even. But after 55 years, the only memorable thing about it remains the song that became a hit shortly after opening night, "No Other Love," based on a theme Richard Rodgers had previously used in the television series Victory at Sea. Rodgers & Hammerstein were trying for a light romantic comedy in the style of Rodgers & Hart, but Hammerstein was not Hart, and this wasn't Pal Joey. The 2008 reissue of Me and Juliet by DRG Records, licensed from Sony BMG, adds both sides of Perry Como's chart-topping single of "No Other Love"/"Keep It Gay." (Of course, "Keep It Gay" is a different and far more innocent composition than the song of the same name that later appeared in the Mel Brooks musical The Producers.) It also contains a 16-minute interview of Richard Rodgers by Goddard Lieberson, president of Columbia Records. The interview seems to have been conducted in 1955, and it actually concerns itself with the Columbia album Rodgers Conducts Rodgers, an LP on which Rodgers conducted the New York Philharmonic in performances of some of his instrumental compositions. The only reference to Me and Juliet comes when the two are discussing Victory at Sea. Despite its tangential relationship to the album on which it appears, the interview will be of interest to musical theater fans. William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

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