Character guide
Claire DeLoone
from On the Town
Claire DeLoone is a supporting character in On the Town, Leonard Bernstein's 1944 musical, playing an anthropologist who is engaged to a judge but drawn instead to the sailor Ozzie.
- Show
- On the Town
- Broadway premiere
- 1944
- Role
- Supporting
- Music by
- Leonard Bernstein
Claire DeLoone on stage vs screen
Broadway compared with the 1949 film
On screen, Claire de Loone becomes Claire Huddesen, played by Ann Miller in MGM's 1949 film. She is still an anthropologist, but her stage duet with Ozzie, Carried Away, is replaced by a new Roger Edens number, Prehistoric Man, in which she decides Ozzie is the prehistoric man she has been searching for. On stage Ozzie meets her at the Museum of Natural History, and she is engaged to the famous Judge Pitkin W. Bridgework.
Betty Comden, co-author of the book and lyrics, originated Claire on Broadway in 1944.
Who is Claire DeLoone?
Claire is an anthropologist studying primitive man at the Museum of Natural History, engaged to the much older Judge Pitkin even as she struggles with her own restless, impulsive nature. When she meets the sailor Ozzie during his shore leave, the attraction between them is immediate, complicating her planned engagement.
Claire is self aware about her own tendency toward impulsive attractions, treating it almost as a personal condition to be managed, which gives her comic scenes with Ozzie an extra layer of self deprecating humor.
Claire's role in On the Town
Claire is a supporting role centered on her museum scenes with Ozzie, where the show plays her academic study of instinct and attraction against her own very immediate attraction to him. The part calls for sharp comic delivery and strong chemistry with her sailor counterpart.
Betty Comden, who co-wrote the show's book and lyrics with Adolph Green, originated the role of Claire on Broadway in 1944. Audiences remember Claire as one of the show's wittiest characters, an academic whose theories about human behavior are constantly undercut by her own very human impulses.
Claire DeLoone: frequently asked questions
What show is Claire DeLoone from?
Claire DeLoone is a supporting character in On the Town, which opened on Broadway in 1944.
Is Claire DeLoone a lead or supporting role?
Claire is a supporting role, an anthropologist drawn to the sailor Ozzie despite her engagement to a judge.
Who wrote the music for On the Town?
Leonard Bernstein composed the music for On the Town, with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.
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