Dearest Enemy

Dearest Enemy is a musical with a book by Herbert Fields, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, and music by Richard Rodgers. This was the first of eight book musicals written by the songwriting team of Rodgers and Hart and writer Herbert Fields, and the first of more than two dozen Rodgers and Hart Broadway musicals. The musical takes place in 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, when Mary Lindley Murray detained British troops long enough in Manhattan to give George Washington time to move his vulnerable troops.

Production and background

Hart got the idea for the musical from a plaque in Manhattan about Murray. He, Rodgers and Fields first took their musical to Fields' father, Lew Fields, to produce, but he declined, thinking the Revolutionary War story would not be commercial. At the time, Rodgers and Hart were unknown young songwriters, but in May 1925, they wrote songs for a charity revue, The Garrick Gaieties, which became a surprise success, and their songs were a hit. Ultimately George Ford, husband of Helen Ford, a star of the show, agreed to produce it. The musical had been variously described as an operetta and a genuine comic opera in the press. Ford presented a tryout of the musical, titled Dear Enemy at the Ohio Colonial Theatre in July 1925. After rewrites, it played for a week in Baltimore in early September 1925.

Dearest Enemy (TV series)

Dearest Enemy is a 1989 Australian sitcom about two newlyweds.

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