Sunny is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and a libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach. The plot involves Sunny, the star of a circus act, who falls for a rich playboy but comes in conflict with his snooty family. This show was the follow-up to the 1920 hit musical Sally, both starring Marilyn Miller in the title roles, and it was Kern's first musical together with Hammerstein. Sunny also became a hit, with its original Broadway production in 1925 running for 517 performances. The London production starred Binnie Hale.
The Sunny audience. Empire Theatre, Sydney, Australia, March 1927. Photo by Sam Hood.
L-R: Paul Hartman, Anna Neagle, and Ray Bolger in the 1941 film adaptation
Judy Garland as Marilyn Miller in Till the Clouds Roll By (1946), in a show-within-a-show performance from the musical Sunny.
Judy Garland as Marilyn Miller singing "Who?" from Sunny in Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A Fine Romance", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "The Song Is You", "All the Things You Are", "The Way You Look Tonight" and "Long Ago ". He collaborated with many of the leading librettists and lyricists of his era, including George Grossmith Jr., Guy Bolton, P. G. Wodehouse, Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin and Yip Harburg.
Jerome Kern in 1934
Angela Lansbury sings "How'd you like to spoon with me?" in Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)
Jerome Kern in 1918
Sheet music from Oh Boy!
