Gertrude Lawrence was the actress that made this play what it was. She wasn't a great singer, or a dancer, she wasn't beautiful, and she wasn't even a great actress, but she was amazing at what she did as a whole. This play was the first play that Lorenz Hart wrote on his own, it was truly about a gay man, but it was written in code and they used a woman instead of a man. The play is filled with gay imagery. The leading Lady Liza is an independent woman who falls in love with a very masculine man who in a sense is trying to top her. (Mordenn 62) This play stands out from other plays because it does not act as a musical although it is a musical. The plays consist of dream sequences, this is where the musical portion of the play is seen. The play sold theaters out for months at a time. (65) Lady in the Dark is the 8th longest running musical since 1900. (66).
George Abbott, one of the most experienced men in theater directed, On the Town. "The show which opened in December 1944 was bright, swift paced and engagingly youthful." (Green 230) The story is about three sailors who leave shore after impressing three girls at a bar. It captures true life in New York. On the Towns biggest note to fame was its dancing. Since the musical didn't have a complex story line, the play was easily filled with dancing. "On the Town was a landmark show for not just being set in New York but caught up in it." (Better Foot Foward Mordden 210) .
Rodgers and Hammerstein's show Annie Get Your Gun was one of the most successful nostalgic American shows. The two produced the show in 1946. .
"Annie [Get Your Gun] was Rodgers and Hammerstein's [most] outstanding production that was written by others, not only because it was the most expensive musical to be created so far, not only because it ran three years, not only because it gave Queen of the Musical, Ethel Merman, her breakthrough role [ ], not only because its score almost immediately enjoyed a popularity to rival that of, yea, Oklahoma!, but mainly because it marked musical's comedy's transformation by the musical play.
