of America. So Rodgers had approached Hammerstein. Hart was by then on a downward spiral, undependable and chaotic due to alcoholism and a debilitating dose of self-loathing.
March 31, 1943. Hart waits, waits, drinks, and waits even more at Sardi’ s for the conquering heroes, Rodgers and Hammerstein. They appear to the accolades of prominent theatergoers and the headlines of the press raving about Oklahoma! He also waits for his lovely young protégée, Elizabeth( Margaret Qualley), to show up. He is desperate for a muse, though he may be more romantically interested in the florist’ s delivery boy than this ambitious Yale student. When Rodgers arrives, he shows a kindness to Hart that makes the heartbreak perhaps a little less devastating.
Ethan Hawke is magnificent as Lorenz Hart. At first, he is unrecognizable as the extremely unglamorous, diminutive songwriter with the comic combover. Little is left of the sexy Jesse in Richard Linklater’ s iconic Before trilogy,( Before Sunrise [ 1995 ], Before Sunset [ 2004 ], and Before Midnight [ 2013 ]). That Linklater chose Hawke to be the lead in Blue Moon is no fluke. The two, not unlike Rodgers and Hart, have been working together for decades. Maybe someday there will be a film featuring Hawke and Linklater, highlighting their fabulous years of collaborative filmmaking with the obvious title— After Midnight.
52 HAMBURG HAPPENINGS