When Elizabeth arrives, the old Hollywood glamour about Qualley slots right into this believably-rendered crowd of Broadway socialites, and later, Andrew Scott convincingly steps into frame as Rodgers, swanning into the bar with the rest of his posse to await the first newspaper reviews of Oklahoma! Hart knows success when he sees it and so does Rodgers – though gracious and serious, Rodgers can’t help but feel rather buoyed by the exuberant praise he’s showered with on this intoxicating evening. This, of course, leaves Hart all the more bitter, and allows for Hawke and Scott to really flex their acting muscles in some painfully awkward scenes where the two dance around their frustrations with each others’ creative approaches, a confusing concoction of friendship, anger, gratitude, jealousy and pity swirling between the two. There is much tension between them – Hart longs to write ‘emotionally complex’ shows and prefers satire, and Rodgers questions whether there’s ‘something wrong with sentimentality’. Hart says it’s ‘too easy’, but Oklahoma!’s success reminds us of Blue Moon’s wartime setting – this is an America that wanted to laugh, wanted to cry, and wanted the guy to get the girl. For all Hart’s genius, it’s just not what the people want. Regard and love seem to have deserted him.
