Blue Moon, a 2025 film directed by Richard Linklater and starring Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale, and Andrew Scott, follows Lorenz, or Larry Hart, on the night of his writing partner's greatest triumph. You've heard of "Rodgers and Hammerstein." Well, before Richard Rodgers changed musical theater in the 20th century with his infamous partner Oscar Hammerstein II, he actually had a prolific career writing 28 stage musicals and over 500 songs with lyricist Larry Hart. Blue Moon is a fictional account of what Larry might have been doing on the night that Oklahoma! opened on Broadway. With such a niche premise that needs historical context to even understand, today we ask: who was this for?

Referenced:

Blue Moon (2025)

As of recording, streaming on Netflix

Primer from Ethan Hawk on Lorenz Hart

Before Trilogy

Blue Moon (1934 Song)

Letters of Elizbeth Weiland: https://time.com/7325788/blue-moon-true-story-lorenz-hart/

Richard Rodgers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Rodgers

George Roy Hill: https://boxd.it/15Ef 

Oscar Hammerstein II: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Hammerstein_II

Stephen Sondheim

Casablanca

Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund

Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’: https://youtu.be/O5APc0z49wg?si=x5aW7pf7uWs5XyKE 

Oklahoma!:

E.B. White: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._B._White

Roshan Sethi: https://boxd.it/NwRh

A Nice Indian Boy: https://boxd.it/GG6o

What is a Snob? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snob

George M. Cohan “Over There”: https://open.spotify.com/track/6XHjtVlSB0X073M80nabrs?si=fe2aa04aa91f43b7

Yankee Doodle Dandy: https://boxd.it/25LO

Follow us:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whowasthisforpod?igsh=YWE0N3diaW1jbjRi

Letterboxd: https://boxd.it/kWtTV

Or email us at [email protected]