Plain And Fancy

Plain and Fancy is a musical comedy with a book by Joseph Stein and Will Glickman, lyrics by Arnold Horwitt, and music by Albert Hague. One of the first depictions of an Amish community in American pop culture, it includes a traditional barn-raising and an old-fashioned country wedding.

The Broadway production, directed by Morton DaCosta and choreographed by Helen Tamiris, opened on January 27, 1955 at the Mark Hellinger Theater. A month later it transferred to the Winter Garden, where it remained for slightly more than eight months before returning to the Mark Hellinger to complete its run of 461 performances.

New York City sophisticates Dan King and Ruth Winters travel to Bird-in-Hand in the Amish country of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to sell a piece of property to Jacob Yoder, who intends to present it to his daughter Katie and her intended Ezra as a wedding gift. They become involved with the local villagers, including Hilda Miller, who mistakes Dan’s kindness for romantic overtures, and Ezra’s banished brother Peter, who returns to claim the hand of his childhood sweetheart – Katie.