Bitter Sweet is an operetta in three acts written by Noël Coward. The story, set in 19th century and early 20th century England and Austria-Hungary, centers around a young woman's elopement with her music teacher. Her half-century story of suffering for love focuses on irony instead of sentiment. Of the songs in the show, the best known by far is "I'll See You Again". Another popular song is "If Love Were All".
The piece was first produced in 1929 at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, running for a very successful 967 performances. There was a brief Broadway production the same year. Short on memorable Cowardian dialogue, Bitter Sweet nonetheless contains some of Coward's best music, and several recordings of the score are available on CD. The piece has been popular with amateur operatic societies, but there have been few major professional revivals. The operetta was filmed twice, in 1933 in black-and-white (in Britain, with Anna Neagle and Fernand Gravet in the leading roles) and in 1940 in Technicolor by MGM, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. In both cases, the score was heavily cut. Coward disliked the much-rewritten 1940 film and vowed that no more of his plays would be filmed in Hollywood.
Read more about Bitter Sweet: Plot, Productions, Musical Numbers
Famous quotes containing the words bitter and/or sweet:
“The Walrus and the Carpenter
Were walking close at hand:
They wept like anything to see
Such quantities of sand:
“If this were only cleared away,”
They said, “it would be grand!”
“If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year,
Do you suppose,” the Walrus said,
“That they could get it clear?”
“I doubt it,” said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.”
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)
“In that sweet mood when pleasure loves to pay
Tribute to ease; and, of its joy secure,
The heart luxuriates with indifferent things,
Wasting its kindliness on stocks and stones,
And on the vacant air.”
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850)