Love Is in the Air

[PROLOGUS & PROTEANS]
Love is in the air
Quite clearly
People everywhere
Act queerly
Some are hasty, some are halting
Some are simply somersaulting
Love is going around

Anyone exposed
Can catch it
Keep your window closed
And latch it
Leave your house and lose your reason
This is the contagious season
Love is going around

La la la
La la la

[STEPHEN SONDHEIM, spoken]
That song was called "Love Is In the Air" and George Abbott could hum it. And that's what we opened with in New Haven. And the show was a disaster. And we didn't know what was wrong with it. The book seemed to be funny, but the audience wasn't laughing. Nobody was having a good time. We got down in Washington. The show was still a disaster.

We called in Jerry Robbins to help out. He took one look at the show and he said to me, "Steve, Love Is in the Air is exactly the wrong number. It's a charming number. It misleads the audience. They don't know it's going to be a low comedy show. You've got to write a number that tells them that." I said "I wrote a number called Forget War which told them that. And George Abbott turned it down," I said grumpily. And Jerry said, "Then you've got to write another number that tells them what it's about that George Abbott will like." And so I wrote "Comedy Tonight."