Silk Stockings

Original Stage Production

A Musical Comedy in Two Acts
Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
Book by George S. Kaufman,
Leueen MacGrath, and Abe Burrows;
suggested by the screenplay Ninotchka
by Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, Walter
Reisch, and Ernst Lubitsch based on an
original story by Melchior Lengyel

Tryouts began November 26, 1954 at the Shubert Theatre, Philadelphia
January 4, 1955 at the Shubert Theatre, Boston
February 1, 1955 at the Shubert Theatre, Detroit

Opened February 24, 1955 at the Imperial Theatre, NYC
Ran for 477 performances
Produced by Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin
Directed by Cy Feuer
Dances and musical numbers staged by Eugene Loring
Settings and Lighting by Jo Mielziner
Costumes designed by Lucinda Ballard
Additional costumes by Robert Mackintosh
Musical direction and vocal arrangements by Herbert Greene
Dance music arranged by Tommy Goodman
Orchestrations by Don Walker, Irwin Kostal

Synopsis

Special envoy Nina Yaschenko is dispatched from the Soviet Union to rescue three foolish commissars who have been seduced by the pleasures of Paris.  She is romanced by theatrical agent Steven Canfield and eventually comes to recognize the viruses of capitalist indulgence.  Other characters include Peter Boroff, Russia's greatest composer, who is being wooed by Janice Dayton, America's swimming sweetheart, to write the music for her first serious, non-swimming picture, War and Peace.

Cast

Don Ameche (Steve Canfield), Hildegarde Neff (Ninotchka), Gretchen Wyler (Janice Dayton), George Tobias (Commissar Markovitch), Henry Lascoe (Ivanov), Leon Belasco (Brankov), David Opatoshu (Bibinski), Philip Sterling (Peter Ilyich Boroff), and Julie Newmar (Vera)

Musical Numbers

Act One

• Overture - Orchestra
• "Too Bad" - Ivanov, Brankov, Bibinski, and Hotel Staff
• "Paris Loves Lovers" - Steve Canfield and Ninotchka
• "Stereophonic Sound" - Janice Dayton
• "It's a Chemical Reaction, That's All" - Ninotchka
• "All of You"- Steve
• "Satin and Silk" - Janice
• "Without Love" - Ninotchka
• "All of You" (reprise) - Steve

Act Two

• Entr'acte - Orchestra
• "Hail, Bibinski" - Ivanov, Brankov, Bibinski, and French Comrades
• "As On Through the Seasons We Sail" - Steve and Ninotchka
• "Josephine" - Janice and Chorus
• "Siberia" - Ivanov, Brankov, and Bibinski
• "Silk Stockings" - Steve
• "The Red Blues" - The Russians
• Finale: "Too Bad" (reprise) - Entire Company

Cut Songs

• "Art" [dropped before the New York opening]
• Ode to a Tractor [instrumental; dropped before the New York opening]
• "There's a Hollywood That's Good" [dropped before the New York opening; replaced by "Stereophonic Sound"]
• "Give Me the Land" [unused; replaced by a reprise of "Too Bad"]
• "If Ever We Get Out of Jail [unused; lyrics rewritten as "As On Through the Seasons We Sail"]
• "Let's Make It a Night" [unused]
• "The Perfume of Love" [unused; replaced by "Satin and Silk"]
• "Under the Dress" [unused; replaced by "The Perfume of Love" and then by "Satin and Silk"]
• "What a Ball" [unused; replaced by "The Red Blues"]
• "Why Should I Trust You?" [unused; replaced by "Siberia"]
• "Bebe of Gay Paree" [unused]
• "I'm the Queen Thamar" [unused]
• "Keep Your Chin Up" [unused]

Original Cast Recording

 
Recorded March 6, 1955, in Webster Hall, NYC
 

For further information go to the Recordings page
 

Contemporaneous Recordings

"All of You" - Sammy Davis, Jr.

• 45 RPM, 1955 [Decca 9-2-9402]

Go to the Film Version of Silk Stockings
Go to Recordings of Silk Stockings

Porter In Order
Previous Project / Next Project

Return to the Table of Contents