Song of Norway

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This article is about the musical. For the cruise ship, see Song of Norway (ship).

Song of Norway is a musical written in 1944 by Robert Wright and George Forrest, adapted from the music of Edvard Grieg and the book by Milton Lazarus.

The show opened at the Imperial Theater in New York on August 21, 1944, and ran for 860 performances. It was also popular in London running for 526 performances at the Palace Theatre, the first Broadway show to cross the Atlantic after the end of the Second World War.

The show is set in Troldhaugen, Norway in 1860 and follows the lives of three childhood friends: Grieg, Louisa Giovanni — an opera singer — and fellow composer Rikard Nordraak.

Songs include "Freddy and his fiddle" (based on Grieg's "Norwegian Dance No.2"), "Now" (based on Second Violin Sonata and Waltz), "Strange Music" (based on "Wedding in Troldhaugen"), "Midsummer's Eve" (Scherzo in E), and "I Love You" ("Ich Liebe Dich").

A 1970 film adaptation, starring Toralv Maurstad as Grieg and boasting an international cast including Florence Henderson, Robert Morley, Harry Secombe and Edward G. Robinson was a critical and commercial disaster. Filmed in Super Panavision, it was a clear attempt to capitalise on the success of The Sound of Music but was, in Harry Secombe's words, the kind of film "you could take the kids to see... and leave them there".

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