Whoopee!  

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Whoopee! is a 1928 musical comedy with a book based on Owen Davis's play, The Nervous Wreck. The musical libretto was written by William Anthony McGuire, with music by Walter Donaldson and lyrics by Gus Kahn. The musical premiered on Broadway in 1928, and introduced the hit song "Love Me or Leave Me", sung by Ruth Etting.

Productions

Whoopee! opened on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre on December 4, 1928 and closed on November 23, 1929 after 407 performances. It was produced by Florenz Ziegfeld, directed by Seymour Felix, dialogue staged by William Anthony McGuire, and dances and ensembles staged by Seymour Felix. The musical starred Eddie Cantor as Henry Williams, Ruth Etting as Leslie Daw, Frances Upton as Sally Morgan, Jack Rutherford as Bob Wells, Paul Gregory as Wanenis, Ethel Shutta as Mary (replacing Ruby Keeler), and featured Buddy Ebsen and Paulette Goddard in the chorus.

A revival, based on a Goodspeed Opera House production, was presented at the ANTA Playhouse from February 14, 1979 to August 12, 1979, for 204 performances and 8 previews. Directed by Frank Corsaro with choreography by Dan Siretta, the cast featured Charles Repole (Henry Williams) Beth Austin (Sally Morgan), Carol Swarbrick (Mary) and Susan Stroman (Leslie Daw). This revival added Kahn/Donaldson songs not in the original 1928 show: "My Baby Just Cares For Me" (from the 1930 film version), "Yes, Sir, That's My Baby", and "You" (lyrics by Harold Adamson). Also, "Love Me or Leave Me" is sung by Mary and Henry rather than the essentially unrelated Leslie.

Whoopee! was filmed in 1930 as a musical comedy film. Although the plot followed the stage version closely, much of the music was changed.




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Whoopee!" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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