The Notables

From the West Side to the West End

Plot summary for On the Town (Scene by Scene)

ACT I

During World War II, sailors in the US Navy, Gabey, Ozzie, and Chip, have 24 hours shore leave in New York City. They are determined to make the most of their time.

Scene 1: The Brooklyn Navy Yard

The show opens just before 6 a.m. It is quiet. A workman sings, "I feel like I'm not out of bed yet." Suddenly, the whistle blows, and sailors and workmen emerge with great excitement. Gabey, Chip, and Ozzie are exuberant ("New York, New York").

Scene 2: A Subway Train in Motion

A workman is hanging a picture of the new Miss Turnstiles for June, Ivy Smith. The three sailors board the train, and Gabey falls in love with the picture. The poster explains, "Ivy's a home-loving type who likes to go out night-clubbing. She loves the Navy, but her heart belongs to the Army. She's not a career girl, but she is studying singing and ballet at Carnegie Hall and painting at the Museum. She is a frail and flowerlike girl who's a champion at polo, tennis, and shot put. . ." Gabey takes the picture, and a Little Old Lady protests, and calls for the police. The sailors disappear.

Scene 3: A New York Street

Back on the street, Ozzie and Chip try to talk reason to Gabey. But he is determined to find Ivy, and Ozzie and Chip agree to help Gabey find her. They agree to split up, and meet again at Times Square at 11 that night. Meanwhile, to boost Gabey's confidence, Ozzie teaches him to sing "Gabey's coming."

Scene 4: Presentation of Miss Turnstiles

Ivy Smith is presented to the public as Miss Turnstiles for June, amid a reporter, photographer, dress designer, and a series of male admirers: a home-loving type, a playboy, a soldier, a sailor, an aesthete, and an athlete. She dances with them all, but goes off alone.

Meanwhile, the Little Old Lady finds a policeman, and the chase resumes.

Scene 5: A Taxicab

We find Hildy asleep in her cab. But her supervisor catches her, fires her, and demands that she return the cab within an hour. She determines to make her last fare a good one. She sees Chip and agrees to show him around town. Chip wants to see everything in his (obsolete) guide book, but Hildy wants him to "Come Up to My Place."

Scene 6: The Museum of Natural History

Ozzie goes to the Museum of Natural History (instead of the Museum of Modern Art) and meets Claire, an anthropology student. She sees him as a perfect specimen of a man of six million years ago. They get "Carried Away", and there is a "prehistoric" dance, which causes the dinosaur exhibit to collapse.

Scene 7: A Busy New York Street

Gabey looks for Carnegie Hall on a busy New York street, and sings about a "Lonely Town", joined by the chorus.

Scene 8: A Corridor and Studio in Carnegie Hall

At Carnegie Hall, Ivy is taking singing lessons from Madame Dilly, who seems more devoted to her bottle than to her teaching. When she is out of the studio, Gabey wanders in, and they hit it off. Ivy agrees to a date with him that evening.

Scene 9: Claire's apartment

Claire and Ozzie go to her apartment, where her fiancé Pitkin is waiting; he "understands".

Scene 10: Hildy's apartment

Hildy takes Chip to her apartment where she tells him, among her other talents, "I can cook too!" As they are becoming better acquainted, they are interrupted by Hildy's roommate Lucy Schmeeler, who is home from work that day with a cold.

Scene 11: Times Square

The three friends have agreed to meet in Times Square at 11:00 p.m. As they are waiting for the appointed hour, Gabey is thinking about Ivy, and now he's "Lucky to Be Me". Ivy comes to Times Square, but before she can reach Gabey, Madame Dilly catches her, and threatens her if she keeps the date. Then Madame Dilly finds Gabey and tells him that Ivy sends her regrets, because she going to "some party".

Chip and Ozzie arrive with their dates. When they realize Gabey is alone, Hildy arranges him a blind date with Lucy Schmeeler.

ACT II

Scene 1a: Diamond Eddie's Nightclub; 1b: The Congacabana; 1c: The Slam Bang Club

The five go night club crawling, Lucy ends up in Yonkers. They are met by Pitkin. The songs are bluesy, and depress Gabey. The other four do their best to cheer him up. ("Ya Got Me".) At the last club, Gabey runs in to Madame Dilly, who by now is quite drunk. She reveals that Ivy is at her job on Coney Island. Pitkin is stuck with the check (and with Lucy) at all the clubs. He explains to Lucy, "I Understand."

Scene 2: The subway train to Coney Island

This is a dream sequence. Gabey is riding a subway train, holding a doll which looks like Ivy. She appears, beckons to him, and they leave the train.

Scene 3: The Dream Coney Island

Ivy and Gabey appear in an imaginary Coney Island. Gabey's counterpart, Gabey, the Great Lover, appears, and dances off with Ivy, to the real Gabey's horror.

Scene 4: Another subway train to Coney Island

The five friends ride the real subway to Coney Island at night. Realizing that their day is almost over, Gabey's four friends sing how they will catch up "Some Other Time."

Scene 5: The Real Coney Island

They discover Ivy at Rajah Bimmy's Night in a Harem, less than an hour before they have to be back aboard ship. She explains that her music teacher insisted that she break the date, so that she could go to her night job to pay for her music lessons. And, of course, she works as a cooch dancer, which she did not want Gabey to know about. Pitkin arrives, with a policeman, who is chasing Gabey for stealing Ivy's poster from the subway, for Hildy for not getting her cab back in time, for Claire and Ozzie for breaking the dinosaur exhibit at the museum, and for Ivy, who has shown too much flesh in public. He is about to hand them over to the shore patrol, until Claire asks Pitkin if he has never committed an indiscretion. He denies that he has, but he sneezes and Lucy giggles wickedly.

Scene 6: The Brooklyn Navy Yard

So all is forgiven, and the three men return to the ship (under police escort), just as the next group of sailors is about to start their 24 hours in "New York, New York".

Book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green; music by Leonard Bernstein

Summary by Tony McQuilkin

Cast (from the original production)

Musical Numbers

For more information, see the Wikipedia entry.

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