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To kick off the Richard Rodgers Centennial celebration, we are proud to announce the availability of a sparkling new Rodgers and Hart revue, BEGUILED AGAIN.

The 24-year partnership of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart resulted in the scores for 30 stage musicals and nine films. Their songs, acknowledged as among the most sophisticated and witty of their time, could also be stunningly simple and direct. BEGUILED AGAIN illuminates the breadth of their output, offering nearly 50 selections from the incomparable Rodgers and Hart songbook.

BEGUILED AGAIN was developed by Florida Stage as part of a summer season dedicated to the exploration of 20th century theatre composers. Conceived by co-directors J. Barry Lewis and Lynnette Barkley (who also choreographed) and Craig Ames (who provided the wonderful musical arrangements), this fresh and sharp revue beguiled audiences and critics alike. "Expertly assembled," heralded the Palm Beach Post, "a model of puckish creativity, a song-and-dance celebration put together with affection and respect." The Miami Herald enthused, "BEGUILED AGAIN" touches musical heaven & Rodgers and Hart's work is beautiful and bewitching." "Snappy, happy and sassy," said the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, praising the creators for their&"amazing reinvention of the musical revue." BEGUILED AGAIN shattered box office records to become the most successful production in the theatre's history and swept Florida's prestigious Carbonell Awards including being honored as Best Musical.

Written for a cast of three women and three men accompanied by piano, bass and drums -- this cleverly compiled potpourri juxtaposes the urbane and the melancholy, the sardonic and the romantic. There is no linear plot or "and then they wrote" narrative. Rather, the songs are grouped thematically in ways that allow them to tell their own stories. One sequence evokes the frenzy of the "Hollywood machine" with studio employees racing from one picture to another, the harried director trying to appease his ego-laden leading man, and a most unlikely starlet who gets "discovered." A live radio show is presented replete with the slick host, a lovely trio of songbirds, and the overwrought stage manager who provides all of the sound effects including a rousing tap number -- with the shoes on his hands. Particularly telling of the creative process is a series of lyrics being written to a recurring tune, variously entitled "Manhattan Melodrama," "The Bad In Every Man" and "Prayer," which culminates in a eureka moment at the end of Act I when the company launches into the standard that finally became know as "Blue Moon." A tongue-in-cheek strip tease and a hard-won game of musical chairs are thrown into the mix for good measure.

The Palm Beach Jewish Journal noted the "&completely original approach to the music," hailing the revue as "a dazzler." "Think of it as the thinking person's musical revue" advised the Boca Raton News. "More than simply entertained, one is edified and impressed with the complexity and wisdom of the songwriting team of Rodgers and Hart."

The score features such classics as "My Funny Valentine," "The Lady Is A Tramp," "With A Song In My Heart," "Falling In Love With Love" and "Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered," from which the revue's title is taken. Also highlighted are lesser-known gems including the heartbreaking "Why Can't I?," the hilarious "To Keep My Love Alive," the satiric "A Lovely Day For A Murder" and the duo's first published song, the 1919 hit "Any Old Place With You."

BEGUILED AGAIN will afford you the perfect opportunity to join in the Richard Rodgers Centennial festivities by offering audiences a captivating new show that celebrates one of the most extraordinary theatrical collaborations of the 20th century. Irving Berlin summed it up best with his famous maxim: "Tuneful and tasty, schmaltzy and smart -- music by Rodgers, lyrics by Hart.

BEGUILED AGAIN: THE SONGS OF RODGERS AND HART is available for professional and amateur productions‚¨|For perusal material and further information, please contact The R&H Theatre Library -- call us at ; fax us at or e-mail us at: .