Chee-Chee is a musical by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart based on the 1927 book, The Son of the Grand Eunuch, by Charles Pettit. Chee-Chee opened on Broadway September 25, 1928, and the show closed after 31 performances.
In 1963 vocalist Betty Comden released an album that included some of the songs from the musical.
Synopsis
In 1928 Herbert Fields wrote a libretto based on Pettit's book in which the son of the Grand Eunuch, Li-Pi, and his wife, Chee-Chee, are forced into exile when the Grand Eunuch announces his plan for Li-Pi to become a eunuch and take his father's place as the Grand Eunuch. Chee-Chee is captured and rescued, and Li-Pi is captured and rescued, and finally the musical ends happily.
Musical Numbers
Two acts, seven scenes.
- Act I
Scene I: A Corridor in the Palace of the Holy Emperor, Son of Heaven, in the Violet Town of Peking
- We're Men of Brains - Eunuchs
- I Am a Prince - Prince Tao-Tee
- In a Great Big Way - Li-Li-Wee
- The Most Majestic of Domestic Officials (Entrance of the Grand Eunuch) - Ensemble
- Holy of Holies - Li-Pi-Siao, Li-Li-Wee
- Her Hair Is Black as Licorice (Food Solo) - Li-Pi-Siao
- Dear, Oh Dear - Chee-Chee, Li-Pi-Tchou
- Await Your Love (Concubines' Song) - Li-Pi-Siao, Miss Smile of a Rose, Ensemble
- Joy Is Mine - Li-Pi-Tchou
- I Wake at Morning - Li-Pi-Tchou
- Grovel to Earth (Chee-Chee's First Entrance) - Chee-Chee
- Just a Little Thing - Li-Pi-Tchou, Chee-Chee
- You Are Both Agreed (Finaletto Scene 1) - Li-Pi-Siao, Li-Pi-Tchou, Chee-Chee
Scene II: The Road to the Future
- I Must Love You - Chee-Chee, Li-Pi-Tchou
- Owl Song - A Very Narrow Minded Owl
Scene III: A Wayside Tavern
- I Bow a Glad Good Day (Tavern Opening) - Innkeeper, Li-Pi-Siao, Ensemble
- Better Be Good to Me - Li-Li-Wee, Prince Tao-Tee
- The Tartar Song - Tartar Chief, Ensemble
- Chee-Chee's Second Entrance - Chee-Chee
- Finale (Act I)
- Act II
Scene I: A Forest
- Khonghouse Song - Li-Pi-Tchou, Ensemble
- Sleep, Weary Head - Chee-Chee
- Singing a Love Song - Tartar Chief, Ensemble
Scene II: Visiting Day at the Monastery of Celestial Clouds
- Monastery Opening
- Chinese Dance
- Living Buddha (Impassive Buddha) - The Grand Prior
- Moon of My Delight - Li-Li-Wee, Prince Tao-Tee
Scene III: The Gallery of Torments
Scene IV: The Palace
- Finale Ultimo
See also
- Rodgers and Hart
References
External links
- Dominic Symonds, We’ll Have Manhattan: The Early Work of Rodgers & Hart, chapter 8
- Chee-Chee Theatre Program, New York Public Library Digital Collections
Further reading
- Geoffrey Block, The Richard Rodgers Reader (Oxford University Press, 2006), pp 45–47
- Gerald Bordman, American Musical Theater: A Chronicle (Oxford University Press, 2001), pp 492–493
