overture). Anna Leonowens and her young son are on a ship
approaching Bangkok, courage is required, and Anna’s solution
is “I Whistle a Happy Tune,” with the boy joining in. There
follow two solos for women (“My Lord and Master” for Tup-
tim, “Hello, Young Lovers” for Anna), before the first ensem-
ble number picks up the theme of Anna’s relation to children.
This is the pantomime presentation of the royal children to
Anna, a long number that demonstrates the bonds that will
hold even as the cultural differences between the main charac-
ters are being dramatized.
The opening numbers of the major Rodgers and Hammer-
stein shows consistently break away from the rousing chorus
numbers of standard Broadway fare. They are often solos or
duets involving children, quiet moments of reflection or joy,
but it would be a mistake to overlook the ensemble numbers
waiting in the wings. The ensembles will set the solos into a
context of group performance, and without that context the
musical lacks its basic performance mode, which matches Ham-
merstein’s social philosophy exactly.^10
Shaw’s Pygmalionand My Fair Lady
“Legitimate” drama is different from the musical in this re-
gard. Ensemble moments are possible, but they are not neces-
sary. Theatre is such a collaborative form in the first place that
there is always a carryover from the teamwork involved in the
production to the coordination of large groups in the play, but
“straight” plays can nevertheless be based on images of indi-
vidualism for which the musical has little time. There are one-
THE ENSEMBLE EFFECT 89
(^10) The leading Rodgers and Hammerstein flop, Allegro, does begin with a
chorus and is something of a crash course in Hammerstein’s concern for en-
sembles and community. The ultimate in their unorthodox openings was the
original version of Me and Juliet, which was supposed to begin with no over-
ture, just stagehands coming out to work on the set. They were actors in the
play within the play, and the show was actually beginning, but the tryout audi-
ences thought they were real stagehands and paid them no heed. See Secrest,
Somewhere for Us: A Biography of Richard Rodgers, p. 320.