Today, we dive into the illustrious shared career of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, a duo celebrated for their contributions to musical theatre during the art form’s so-called golden age. Their partnership produced some of Broadway’s most memorable shows, following a small start in October 1942 with Life of the Party, an musical adaptation of Barry Connor’s farce The Patsy, which was written for a stock theatre company in Detroit and never played the Main Stem. We’re expanding our look beyond their “Big Five” Broadway shows (Brigadoon, Camelot, Gigi, My Fair Lady and Paint Your Wagon) to include their lesser-known works, What’s Up? and The Day Before Spring. (What’s not included is their final work, The Little Prince, which was written for the silver screen rather than the stage.) With the formalities out of the way, it’s time to see how these seven musicals stack up!

7. What’s Up? is an inauspicious wartime musical curio.

What’s Up? marked the first Broadway collaboration between Lerner and Loewe, with Arthur Pierson also contributing to the show’s book. Opening at the National Theatre in November 1943, this wartime musical about aviators quarantined in a boarding school for girls was directed and choreographed by George Balanchine. It closed after 63 performances. The book, though showing promise, was said to lack finesse, and the score, while catchy, feels old-fashioned, even in comparison with other shows of that time. Standout songs include “You’ve Got a Hold on Me,” which was recorded by Frank Sinatra and the sweet “My Last Love,” with versions by Brent Barrett and Steve Ross among others. Despite these highlights, What’s Up? is largely forgotten, and was not a hugely promising debut for the legendary duo.

6. The Day Before Spring is a footnote in Lerner and Loewe’s storied partnership.

In The Day Before Spring, the Lerner-Loewe partnership found its footing. This musical, which opened in November 1945 and ran for 167 performances, was directed by Edward Padula with choreography by Antony Tudor. The plot focuses on a married woman who, at a college reunion, contemplates leaving her husband for an old flame. The show lacks a cast recording, but some songs, like “You Haven’t Changed at All” and “My Love Is a Married Man,” are preserved in compilations, performed by the likes of Brent Barrett, Lauren Bacall, Julie Andrews and Ann Hampton Calloway. Despite occasional concert and lost musical-style revivals, this show remains a footnote in Lerner and Loewe’s canon, with nothing that truly caught on beyond its few lovely tunes.

5. Paint Your Wagon offers a brilliant score trapped in a misogynistic narrative.

Paint Your Wagon has an excellent score but is burdened by its bizarre and misogynistic wife-selling storyline. This show, which premiered in 1951, includes memorable tunes like “They Call the Wind Maria,” “How Can I Wait?” and “Wand’rin’ Star.” Despite its musical strengths, its problematic plot has prevented major revivals. If “I’m a Bad, Bad Man” from Annie Get Your Gun was too racy for audiences at the turn of the century, Paint Your Wagon isn’t likely to be seen in an unrevised form anytime soon. Indeed, a new production, with a revised libretto by David Rambo, premiered in 2005, but it never caught on. Most recently, it was presented in a staged concert production as part of New York City Center’s Encores! programme in March 2015, the kind of setting for which this show seems destined. Paint Your Wagon also spawned one of the weirdest movie musicals ever, adapting the show to create a polyamorous marriage between Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood and Jean Seberg. Perhaps that’s just the Gen Z perspective the material needs for a true 21st-century reinvention?

4. Gigi transformed from an unforgettable film to a forgettable show.

Gigi differs from the other musicals on this list because it originated as a film musical which was then adapted for the stage some 15 years later. The 1958 film, with Leslie Caron in the title role, is unforgettable, despite its cringe-worthy opening number “Thank Heaven for Little Girls.” That number aside, Gigi is a delightful coming-of-age story set against a very specific social backdrop. The stage version dilutes the original’s magic. The songs “Gigi,” “The Night They Invented Champagne,” and “I Remember It Well” remain as charming as they ever were, but no stage actress has matched Caron’s iconic performance. Caron is, in a word, unforgettable – even if she was – to her dismay – dubbed by Betty Wand after she had filmed the songs to her own vocal tracks. The 2015 Broadway revival attempted to modernise the story but failed to capture the original’s charm. At least it ditched Gigi’s dreadfully sentimental introductory song, “The Earth and Other Minor Things,” and restored “The Parisians,” which sets up the character much better and starts off by giving her some sense of agency, something that is needed if this story is to endure in our modern times.

3. Brigadoon is a Scottish fantasy with an underrated score.

Brigadoon has grown on me over the years. On paper, the idea of a mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every century has always intrigued me. I’ve always loved the idea of Brigadoon. Yet initially, the show and its lesser film adaptation left me cold, even though I adored some of the score’s songs, including “The Heather on the Hill” and “Almost Like Being in Love.” For the most part, though, I found the songs forgettable and the whole thing felt a bit contrived – even silly at times. The 2017 Encores! staged concert, featuring Kelli O’Hara, Patrick Wilson, Stephanie J. Block and Aasif Mandvi, completely shifted my view of this show. What this presentation did best of all was showcase the score’s brilliance, which it preserves in a sparkling cast recording. In doing so, it really unlocked the full scope of the show’s ideas and the stakes at play. I’d love to see a full-scale contemporary Broadway revival blossom. Rumours of a “revisal” of the show surfaced in 2008, mentioning a book by John Guare that turned Brigadoon into a pacifist town that disappeared in 1939, sank without a trace. Truth be told, I don’t know how much revising it needs. What’s clear is that there is definitely more to Brigadoon there than there seems to be at first – or at least, there was to me.

2. Camelot is a deeply emotional, flawed masterpiece.

Camelot is Lerner and Loewe’s most deeply emotional show. Due to its complicated production history it remains a flawed masterpiece. A prologue, added later, helped audiences to reconcile the tone of the start of the show with its ending, but it still doesn’t all gel together perfectly, despite a winning score, full to the brim with fabulous songs like “Camelot,” “I Loved You Once in Silence” and “If Ever I Should Leave You.” Even what some might consider throwaway numbers like “Then You May Take Me to the Fair” shimmer with sheer magnificence. Every revival, including the 2023 production with a revised book by Aaron Sorkin, has tried to fix the show’s flaws, but perhaps its beauty lies in its imperfections, much like the tragic flaw that sank King Arthur’s idealistic vision for a world where “might”doesn’t equal “right.” As it is, the show is still incredibly moving and there’s no better introduction to it than through the original Broadway cast recording with Richard Burton and Julie Andrews.

1. My Fair Lady is the quintessential Lerner and Loewe masterwork.

Widely regarded as a perfect musical, My Fair Lady isn’t without its faults, particularly in its lyrics. For a man who had a reputation of agonising for weeks over a single lyric, Lerner certainly let his share of duds through and some make their way into My Fair Lady, the worst offender being the use of ‘hung’ instead of ‘hanged’ in the opening number, a choice which hamstrings the leading man even as it establishes him. That said, the show is the best of the Lerner and Loewe shows: it is exquisitely constructed, the characters play off one another wonderfully and the songs (including “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?,” “I Could Have Danced All Night” and “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face”) became standards the instant they were introduced by Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews and the rest of the original Broadway cast. It’s most certainly Lerner and Loewe’s masterwork and has proved to be a show for the ages.

Final thoughts

Lerner and Loewe’s contribution to Broadway is enshrined in the pantheon of musical theatre greats, offering a repertoire that continues to captivate and enchant audiences. While they lack the socio-political heft of works like Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan’s South Pacific, the charm, wit and timeless melodies they infused into their musicals ensure their lasting legacy. From the idyllic Scottish hills of Brigadoon to the majestic halls of Camelot, and the transformative journey of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, their stories and songs remain perennial favourites. As we conclude this reflection on their illustrious career, let us celebrate the magic they created on stage, and raise a glass to Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, whose musicals will continue to shine brightly for generations to come.