The composer perhaps most influenced by Victor Herbert and Jerome Kern was Richard Rodgers (1902–1979), who acknowledged his affection for Kern’s shows with Bolton and Wodehouse. His score for Dearest Enemy, his first Broadway success, is clearly influenced by Kern’s graceful way with a good melody. Dearest Enemy, written with lyricist Lorenz Hart (1895–1943) and book writer Herbert Fields (1897–1958) opened on September 18, 1925. It displays the young composer’s synthesis of Victor Herbert, Rudolf Friml, Sigmund Romberg and other writers of the day. Rodgers’ work with Lorenz Hart covered a wide range, from the sophisticated innocence of Babes in Arms (1937) to adaptations of Mark Twain, Shakespeare and the sleazy showbiz world of John O’Hara’s Pal Joey (1940). Dearest Enemy is a romantic score by the composer who would write Carousel twenty years later and shows how the third generation of composers for Broadway helped to make the transition from operetta to musical theater.

Lyrics by Lorenz Hart

Book by Herbert Fields

Original orchestrations by Emil Gerstenberger and Harold Sanford

Reconstruction and additional orchestrations by Larry Moore