The Girl Friend is a musical comedy with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart and book by Herbert Fields. This was the longest running show for the trio to that date.Secrest, Meryle. Somewhere for me:a biography of Richard Rodgers (2002), Hal Leonard Corporation, , p. 78

Production The Girl Friend opened on Broadway at the Vanderbilt Theatre on March 17, 1926, and closed on December 27, 1926, after 301 performances. Produced by Lew Fields (Herbert's father), staged by John Harwood with musical staging by Jack Haskell, the cast starred Sammy White, Eva Puck and June Cochrane. White and Puck were married and well-known vaudeville performers of the time.

Plot Setting: Long Island, New York

A cyclist trains on a wheel connected to a butter churn on his dairy farm. He is in love with the daughter of a professional cyclist. He is urged to enter a six-day bicycle race by a questionable cycling promoter. Various gamblers try to cause him to lose, but he wins the race and the girl.

Characters + Characters Name Gender Vocal Range Original Cast"The Girl Friend - Cast", playbill.com, without date. Accessed 4 September 2026. Ellen Female Example Dorothy Barber Jane Talbot Female Example Dorothy Barber Duffy Male Example Walter Bigelow Wynn Spencer Female Example Evelyn Cavanaugh Irene Covel Female Example June Cochrane Fanny Silver Female Example Eva Condon Arthur Spencer Male Example Frank Doane Donald Litt Male Example Francis X. Donegan Frank Male Example Joel Duroe Thomas Larson Male Example John Hundley Mike Male Example Jack Kogan Mme. Ruby DeLilly Female Example Jan Moore Henry Male Example Herman Newman Mollie Farrell Female Example Eva Puck Eddie Male Example Leon Rose Jim Male Example Paul Sabin Ann Female Example Silvia Shawn Bill Male Example Sanford Wolf

Songs Act 1 "Hey! Hey!" "The Simple Life" "The Girl Friend" "Goodbye, Lenny" "Blue Room" "Cabarets" "Why Do I?" "The Damsel Who Done All the Dirt" "He's a Winner" "Town Hall Tonight" "Good Fellow, Mine"

Act 2 "Creole Cooning Song" "I'd Like to Take You Home" "What Is It?"

Critical response Reviewers praised the humor, dancing, and the "captivating music." The New York American reviewer wrote: "This WAS music, instead of molasses. There was a ditty called 'The Blue Room' which should be sung to exhaustion".

References

External links Internet Broadway Database listing Overview of show, lorenzhart.org Ovrtur Page for The Girl Friend