About the work
Bells Are Ringing is a musical comedy with music by Jule Styne and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Its 1956 Broadway premiere was written especially for the comedienne Judy Holliday, who triumphed in the leading role and won a Tony Award. With warm-hearted wit and catchy melodies, the show celebrates the little working girl who cannot help meddling in other people's affairs – a classic of the light, romantic Broadway musical of the 1950s.
Plot
Ella Peterson works at a telephone answering service and cannot resist getting involved in the lives of her clients – always with the best intentions. From a distance she falls for one of them, the blocked playwright Jeff Moss, whom she cheers up over the phone in a disguised voice as a motherly "Mom". When she finally meets him in person without revealing her double role, a tender romance unfolds. While Ella also helps other clients to happiness and success and stumbles onto a shady betting scam, her little white lie threatens to endanger the young love.
Cultural significance
Bells Are Ringing produced two timeless Great American Songbook standards in "Just in Time" and the melancholy ballad "The Party's Over". The musical is regarded as a showcase of the Comden-and-Green style and one of the most charming romantic comedies in Broadway history. The 1960 film version, again starring Judy Holliday, preserved her legendary performance for posterity. To this day the show stands for the cheerful, warm-hearted side of the classic American musical.