Ishould confess at the outset that Richard Linklater's Blue Moon — an often funny valentine to Broadway's wittiest lyricist before Stephen Sondheim — might as well have been written specifically for me. As a musical comedy fan who thinks in song lyrics and hums show tunes in the shower, I ate up the basic premise: Lorenz Hart, the lyric-writing half of the 20th century songwriting team Rodgers and Hart, is sitting in Sardi's nursing way too many drinks as that legendary showbusiness watering hole hosts the opening night party for Oklahoma!, the first musical by composer Richard Rodgers and his new partner, Oscar Hammerstein II.

That the film brings together Linklater and his longtime collaborator Ethan Hawke — as Hart, who penned the lyrics for hits including "Manhattan" and "My Fun

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