Broadway’s By Jupiter
In 1942, Rodgers and Hart composed By Jupiter, their longest running production with 427 performances in its initial run. The show is a musical comedy set in ancient Greece. Greek warriors travel to the land of the Amazons to capture the Sacred Girdle of Diana for Jupiter, king of the gods, from Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons.
Captured by her tribe, the Greeks find that gender roles are reversed in their land. Women rule the land, fight in battle and are baffled by the idea of equality for men. Amazon men tend the household and children, knit, and buy new hats. Despite their different lifestyles, love blossoms between Antiope and Theseus and the Amazons and Greeks learn about love. In the end, the Queen’s husband Sapiens, in possession of the girdle, and the Amazons agree to hand it over to the Greeks.