View source for I'd Rather Be Right

{{Short description|Musical by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox Musical
|name=I'd Rather Be Right 
|subtitle=
|image=I'd-Rather-Be-Right-FE.jpg
|caption=First edition 1937
|music=[[Richard Rodgers]]
|lyrics=[[Lorenz Hart]]
|book=[[Moss Hart]] and [[George S. Kaufman]]
|basis=
|productions= 1937 [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]<br />2011 [[Revival (theatre)|Revival]]
<!-- Please do not include production-specific (acting, directing, etc.) awards -->
|awards= 
}}

'''''I'd Rather Be Right''''' is a 1937 [[musical theatre|musical]] with a [[Book (musical theatre)|book]] by [[Moss Hart]] and [[George S. Kaufman]], lyrics by [[Lorenz Hart]], and music by [[Richard Rodgers]].  The story is a [[Great Depression|Depression]]-era political satire set in [[New York City]] about Washington politics and political figures such as President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. The plot centers on Peggy Jones ([[Joy Hodges]]) and her boyfriend Phil (Austin Marshall), who needs a raise in order for them to get married. The President steps in and solves their dilemma.

==Production==
[[File:Kaufman-Hart-1937.jpg|thumb|left|[[George S. Kaufman]] and [[Moss Hart]] in 1937]]
''I'd Rather Be Right'' premiered on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] at the [[Alvin Theatre]] on November 2, 1937, produced by [[Sam H. Harris]].<ref>Atkinson, Brooks. "[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/11/03/94451971.html?pageNumber=28 George M. Cohan as the United States President in 'I'd Rather Be Right]'", ''The New York Times''. November 3, 1937. 28.</ref> It transferred to the [[Music Box Theatre]], and ran for 290 performances.  It starred [[George M. Cohan]] as [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. In such pieces as  "Off the Record", Cohan, as FDR, danced—not possible in real life for the President.

==Reception==
[[H. G. Wells]] wrote enthusiastically about the musical, and Cohan's performance as Roosevelt, in an article "The Fall in America 1937", published in ''[[Collier's]]'' on January 28, 1938, and reprinted in his ''[[World Brain]]'' (1938).

==Cultural references==
The musical is prominently featured in the 1942 Cohan biopic ''[[Yankee Doodle Dandy]]'', in which it serves as a narrative bookend. [[James Cagney]], playing Cohan, after meeting FDR in the Oval Office, performs a joyous tap dance as he walks back down the stairs of the White House. In the film, we also see Cagney as Cohan performing "Off the Record" during the show's run. Because the film was made during World War II, the film also anachronistically added some morale-boosting lyrics at the end of the song.

==Musical numbers==
[[File:I'd Rather Be Right.jpg|thumb|Original 1937 ''Playbill'' cover, with [[George M. Cohan]] as [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]]]

===Act I===
*"A Homogeneous Cabinet"—Cabinet Members 
* "[[Have You Met Miss Jones?]]"—Peggy Jones and Phil Barker
* "Take and Take and Take"—The Judge's Girl and Ensemble 
* "Spring in Vienna"—Tony 
* "A Little Bit of Constitutional Fun"—The Judge's Girl and Ensemble
* "Sweet Sixty-Five"—Peggy Jones and Phil Barker 
* "We're Going to Balance the Budget"—The President of the United States and Company

===Act II===
* "American Couple"—Ensemble 
* "Labor Is the Thing"—James B. Maxwell and Ensemble
* "I'd Rather Be Right"—Peggy Jones, Phil Barker, The Judge's Girl, The President of the United States and Ensemble 
* "Off the Record"—The President of the United States
* "A Baby Bond"—The Secretary of the Treasury

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IBDB title|12307}}
*[https://fdr.blogs.archives.gov/2016/03/08/the-president-on-broadway-fdr-george-m-cohan-and-id-rather-be-right/ "The President on Broadway: FDR, George M. Cohan, and ''I’d Rather Be Right''"] (March 8, 2016) by William A. Harris, FDR Library Deputy Director — ''Forward with Roosevelt'', the blog of the [[Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930044108/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,758329,00.html ''Time'' Magazine review, November 15, 1937]
*[http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=119/ Essay on ''I'd Rather be Right'' in ''Studies in Musical Theatre'', January 2007]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=QX77o6bhB9QC&pg=PA3 ''I'd Rather Be Right''], Libretto {{ISBN|1-4179-9228-X}}


{{George Kaufman}}
{{Rodgers and Hart}}
{{Franklin D. Roosevelt}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1937 musicals]]
[[Category:Broadway musicals]]
[[Category:Musicals by Rodgers and Hart]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
[[Category:Musicals set in New York City]]