The songwriter Otto Harbach is not well known today. During the 1920s he contributed to dozens of Broadway hits; at one point in 1925 Otto Harbach had five plays running simultaneously on Broadway, something no one before or since has been able to claim. But Harbach’s importance is not due to his prolific output; he belongs with the influential early songwriters because he brought lyric and libretto writing to an adult level. He will always be one of my heroes for writing Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. His best remembered show is No, No Nanette. The rest of his work has paled with time, Harbach laid the groundwork for Oscar Hammerstein II and others who would develop his ideas and shape the musical theatre into what it became in the 1940s.Thursday, October 21, 2010
Tribute To Harbach
The songwriter Otto Harbach is not well known today. During the 1920s he contributed to dozens of Broadway hits; at one point in 1925 Otto Harbach had five plays running simultaneously on Broadway, something no one before or since has been able to claim. But Harbach’s importance is not due to his prolific output; he belongs with the influential early songwriters because he brought lyric and libretto writing to an adult level. He will always be one of my heroes for writing Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. His best remembered show is No, No Nanette. The rest of his work has paled with time, Harbach laid the groundwork for Oscar Hammerstein II and others who would develop his ideas and shape the musical theatre into what it became in the 1940s.
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No, No, Nanette is a classic! I always loved that the "sequel" was called Yes, Yes, Yvette. Although it was written mostly by other people. That may be why it flopped.
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