| The Beauty Prize | |
|---|---|
 Postcard from the Winter Garden Theatre production | |
| Music | Jerome Kern |
| Lyrics | George Grossmith and P. G. Wodehouse |
| Book | George Grossmith and P. G. Wodehouse |
| Productions | 1923, Winter Garden Theatre, Drury Lane, London 2005, 45th Street Theatre, New York |
The Beauty Prize is a musical comedy in three acts, with music by Jerome Kern, book and lyrics by George Grossmith and P. G. Wodehouse. It was first produced by Grossmith and J A E Malone on 5 September 1923 at the Winter Garden Theatre, Drury Lane, London. It was designed to replace The Cabaret Girl,[1] which the same team had produced with great success the previous year, at the same theatre and with predominantly the same cast, but failed to achieve the same success. The review of the first night performance in The Times[2] described it as:
not ... equal to its select band of predecessors... It has quite an involved plot, which is never very interesting: a vast number of characters, most of whom are never very convincing ... The 'book', by Mr George Grossmith and Mr P G Wodehouse, has many flashes of wit but, on the whole, the narrative is an arid desert in which the music of Mr Jerome Kern makes only an occasional oasis... At the end the piece obtained rather a mixed reception.
The show ran for a total of 214 performances, closing on 8 March 1924.[3]
The Beauty Prize received its first American production when it was presented in a concert-style staging by Musicals Tonight! at the 45th Street Theatre, New York, from 26 April to 8 May 2005.[4]