Easter Parade G78F5514 ( 0135 )

In 1912, Broadway star Don Hewes buys Easter presents for his sweetheart and dancing partner, Nadine Hale ("Happy Easter"), getting a boy to part with a plush rabbit by playing all the drums in the toy store ("Drum Crazy"). He takes the gifts to Nadine, who has been offered the opportunity to star in a show—solo. He tries to persuade her to stay with him ("It Only Happens When I Dance with You"), but she has signed a contract. Don's best friend, Johnny, arrives. Nadine is clearly attracted to Johnny, but he resists her out of respect for Don.

Don drowns his sorrows at the bar at Pastini's restaurant, bragging to Johnny and the bartender, Mike, that he can replace Nadine with any girl from the floor show. He randomly chooses Hannah Brown. The next day at rehearsal, he learns that she suffers from left–right confusion. Determined to turn Hannah into a star, Don buys her a new wardrobe and gives her the exotic stage name "Juanita". She makes several mistakes at their first performance ("Beautiful Faces Need Beautiful Clothes"), and the show is a fiasco.

Johnny unsuccessfully tries to reunite Don with Nadine, who confronts Don about trying to turn Hannah into a copy of her. Later, Johnny meets Hannah by chance and walks her to rehearsal during a rainstorm ("A Fella with an Umbrella"). Realizing he has been taking the wrong approach with Hannah, Don prepares routines better suited to her. Now known as "Hannah & Hewes", they become a great success ("I Love a Piano", "Snookie-Ookums", "The Ragtime Violin", and "When That Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam'").

Auditioning for the Ziegfeld Follies, Don and Hannah meet the show's star—Nadine. Realizing that Nadine is Don's former partner, Hannah demands to know whether he loved her. At Hannah's hotel room, Don reveals that he turned down the Ziegfeld offer, believing that Hannah is too good to be in the same show as Nadine. They are about to kiss when Johnny arrives to take Hannah to dinner. He confesses that he fell in love with her during the rainstorm, but Hannah admits that she is hopelessly in love with Don.

After watching Nadine's show ("Shakin' the Blues Away"), Don tells Hannah that he has signed them to star in their own show and invites her out on the town to celebrate. She arrives at his apartment to find that he has arranged a private dinner. When Don begins to discuss their act, Hannah accuses him of treating their rendezvous like a dance rehearsal. She tries to leave, but he kisses her. She plays the piano and sings "It Only Happens When I Dance with You". "Why didn't you tell me I was in love with you?" he asks, and they embrace.

Their show features Don and a large chorus ("Steppin' Out with My Baby") before he and Hannah play tramps ("A Couple of Swells"). Afterward, Don takes Hannah to celebrate at the roof garden, where Nadine is performing in the Ziegfeld Follies. After dancing to "The Girl on the Magazine Cover", Nadine insists that Don perform one of their old numbers with her: "It Only Happens When I Dance with You (Reprise)". Don reluctantly agrees, and Hannah leaves.

At Pastini's, where she and Don first met, Hannah pours out her troubles to Mike ("Better Luck Next Time"). She finds Don waiting outside her hotel room, accusing him of using her to make Nadine jealous. Don promises to wait all night for her to forgive him, but the house detective ejects him. The next morning, Johnny visits Hannah and claims that Don is already auditioning a new partner, compelling her to admit that she loves Don. Johnny remarks that if he loved someone, he would find a way to show them.

Flowers, a chocolate egg, and a live bunny inside a top hat are anonymously delivered to Don's apartment. Shortly afterward, Hannah arrives and reminds him of their date ("Easter Parade"). Don puts a diamond ring on her left hand as they walk in the Easter parade along Fifth Avenue.