Bells Are Ringing Lyrics – All Songs from the Musical

"Bells Are Ringing" – The Musical Guide & Song Meanings

Review

“Bells Are Ringing” is a romantic comedy about surveillance that wants to be sweet. It is sweet anyway. Betty Comden and Adolph Green write lyrics that sound like smart talk, but the smart talk is camouflage for yearning. Ella Peterson works an answering service, listens to strangers all day, and invents versions of herself to feel less trapped. The show understands the danger in that. It also understands the pleasure. Listening is her drug. Helping is her alibi. Love arrives as a voice on a line, which is the most mid-century idea of intimacy you can stage. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}

Jule Styne’s music moves like a city that never stops talking. Bright rhythms for office hustle. Lush, late-night melody when Ella’s guard drops. The lyric themes keep returning to identity as performance. Ella is professional, then playful, then reckless. Jeff is blocked, then boastful, then suddenly exposed. Even the comic material is character work. “It’s a Simple Little System” is funny, yes, but it is also a song about how easily a “system” becomes moral permission. By Act II, the lyrics get sharper because the show finally admits the cost of Ella’s fantasies. “The Party’s Over” is not a breakup aria. It is a self-respect aria, which is rarer. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}

How It Was Made

The show opened on Broadway on November 29, 1956, directed by Jerome Robbins, with choreography credited to Robbins and Bob Fosse. Judy Holliday starred as Ella, with Sydney Chaplin as Jeff. The production began at the Shubert Theatre and later transferred to the Alvin Theatre, totaling 924 performances. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}

Its most telling origin detail is not a melody. It is a job. Ella was inspired by Mary Printz, an answering service operator who took calls for show-business clients, including Adolph Green. That real-life proximity to voices, demands, and private mess is exactly what the lyrics dramatize. Ella’s gift is that she hears everything. Her flaw is that she thinks hearing means owning. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}

The score’s afterlife has been unusually practical. The songs became standards because they work away from the plot. But the plot is what gives them bite. Hearing “Just in Time” or “The Party’s Over” on a playlist is pleasant. Hearing them inside Ella’s day, where a voice on the line becomes a life plan, is the real story. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}

Key Tracks & Scenes

"Bells Are Ringing" (Telephone Girls)

The Scene:

Susanswerphone on a busy day. Desks, headsets, message pads. Bright office light that makes everyone look awake even when they are exhausted. The girls sing like a workforce trying to keep rhythm with the city.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric treats labor as music. The soundscape is the point. These women are the human machinery that makes other people’s lives run, and the show never lets you forget it. :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}

"It's a Perfect Relationship" (Ella)

The Scene:

Ella alone at the switchboard, flirting with the idea of romance she can control. The staging often isolates her in a pool of light while the office hum continues around her.

Lyrical Meaning:

It is a love song to distance. She wants intimacy without visibility. The lyric is funny, but it is also defensive. She thinks safety is the same as love. :contentReference[oaicite:6]{index=6}

"Independent" (Jeff)

The Scene:

Jeff in his apartment, blocked, restless, trying to talk himself into being the kind of artist he thinks he should be. The light is late-night and slightly grimy, the way New York creativity often is.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric is ambition as stubbornness. Jeff sells himself a story about solitude, but it reads as fear of needing anyone. Ella hears that fear through the phone and falls for it. :contentReference[oaicite:7]{index=7}

"It's a Simple Little System" (Sandor, Ensemble)

The Scene:

Sandor lays out a scheme, using the answering service as a front for a coded “records” operation. The staging can shift into underworld comedy: tighter light, sharper angles, a feeling of plans clicking into place.

Lyrical Meaning:

A sales pitch disguised as logic. The lyric keeps insisting it is “simple,” which is how people justify wrongdoing when they want it to feel inevitable. :contentReference[oaicite:8]{index=8}

"Long Before I Knew You" (Ella, Jeff)

The Scene:

Ella finally meets Jeff in person and the fantasy has to survive daylight. The scene plays as romantic recognition, often with softer light and a slowed physical tempo.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric rewrites time. It claims fate. It is also Ella trying to make her eavesdropping feel pure, turning “I listened” into “I loved.” It is gorgeous and a little unsettling. :contentReference[oaicite:9]{index=9}

"Drop That Name" (Ella, Ensemble)

The Scene:

A party at Jeff’s apartment with pretentious guests. Glittery social light, fast entrances, and laughter that lands half a second too late. Ella is watched here, for the first time, instead of listening.

Lyrical Meaning:

Comden and Green skewer status as a verbal game. The lyric shows how names become currency, and how quickly Ella’s confidence can drain in a room that speaks fluent snobbery. :contentReference[oaicite:10]{index=10}

"Just in Time" (Ella, Jeff, Ensemble)

The Scene:

After chaos, the couple locks into joy. Staging often opens up here, letting the ensemble carry the lift like a street suddenly joining your celebration.

Lyrical Meaning:

Serendipity as rescue fantasy. Ella and Jeff sing as if timing can heal everything, which is the show’s most romantic lie and its most human one. :contentReference[oaicite:11]{index=11}

"The Party's Over" (Ella)

The Scene:

Ella leaves the party hurt and disillusioned. The light narrows. The room empties. The song lives in a quiet afterglow that feels colder than silence.

Lyrical Meaning:

It is Ella choosing herself. The lyric is polite on the surface and devastating underneath. It refuses to beg. It just ends the night. :contentReference[oaicite:12]{index=12}

"I'm Going Back" (Ella)

The Scene:

After the crime ring collapses and Jeff arrives at Susanswerphone to confess love, Ella makes a decision about who she wants to be. The office setting returns, but the lighting can feel warmer, as if the workplace finally belongs to her.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric is not regression. It is reclamation. Ella goes “back” to herself, not to loneliness. In a comedy, that’s a serious ending. :contentReference[oaicite:13]{index=13}

Live Updates

“Bells Are Ringing” is not currently a Broadway title. Its modern life is licensing, concert revivals, and regional runs. Concord Theatricals actively licenses the show and describes it as a showcase for a singing comedienne, with the Susanswerphone premise intact. Concord also flags that an updated version is available in its Tams-Witmark collection, which is the clearest 2025–2026 signal that the materials are being kept production-ready. :contentReference[oaicite:14]{index=14}

The last major New York visibility spike remains City Center Encores! in 2010, starring Kelli O’Hara and Will Chase, with Kathleen Marshall directing and choreographing. That production matters because it showed how fast the jokes still play when the music is treated like a living thing, not a museum piece. :contentReference[oaicite:15]{index=15}

On record, the title is quietly gaining a new shelf. Concord Theatricals launched a recordings label and includes the 2001 Broadway cast recording in its catalogue, keeping the revival score in circulation for listeners who want more than the 1956 sound. :contentReference[oaicite:16]{index=16}

Notes & Trivia

• The original Broadway production opened November 29, 1956 at the Shubert Theatre, then transferred to the Alvin Theatre, running 924 performances in total. :contentReference[oaicite:17]{index=17}
• Jerome Robbins directed; choreography was credited to Robbins and Bob Fosse. :contentReference[oaicite:18]{index=18}
• Ella was inspired by Mary Printz, an answering-service operator whose work intersected with Adolph Green’s life. :contentReference[oaicite:19]{index=19}
• The 1956 original cast recording’s first LP release date is listed as December 11, 1956 by Masterworks Broadway. :contentReference[oaicite:20]{index=20}
• The 1960 MGM film adaptation starred Judy Holliday and Dean Martin, with Holliday reprising her stage role. :contentReference[oaicite:21]{index=21}
• The 2001 Broadway revival opened April 12, 2001 and closed June 10, 2001. :contentReference[oaicite:22]{index=22}
• Three songs, “Long Before I Knew You,” “Just in Time,” and “The Party’s Over,” are widely cited as having become standards beyond the show. :contentReference[oaicite:23]{index=23}

Reception

In 1956, the show was sold on Judy Holliday’s specificity: an oddball heroine in a very ordinary job. Critics tended to frame the piece as light entertainment with a real star at the center. The later conversation, especially around the 2001 revival, is less forgiving about the book’s mechanics. Reviewers can admire the score and still call the story creaky. That split is part of the musical’s reputation now: the songs endure, and productions live or die on whether Ella feels like a person rather than a cute device. :contentReference[oaicite:24]{index=24}

“An original subject: a telephone answering service that leads into the personal lives of several people.”

“The dizzy charm, vulnerability, sweetness and warmth … are all absent …”

“Tuneful but sprightly, charming and rollickingly funny.”

Technical Info

• Title: Bells Are Ringing
• Year: 1956 (Broadway premiere)
• Type: Musical comedy
• Book & Lyrics: Betty Comden, Adolph Green :contentReference[oaicite:25]{index=25}
• Music: Jule Styne :contentReference[oaicite:26]{index=26}
• Original Broadway run: Shubert Theatre (Nov 29, 1956–Dec 13, 1958), then Alvin Theatre (Dec 15, 1958–Mar 7, 1959), 924 performances total :contentReference[oaicite:27]{index=27}
• Director: Jerome Robbins :contentReference[oaicite:28]{index=28}
• Choreography: Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse :contentReference[oaicite:29]{index=29}
• Setting: New York City, late 1950s :contentReference[oaicite:30]{index=30}
• Selected notable placements: “It’s a Perfect Relationship” at Susanswerphone; “It’s a Simple Little System” as the scheme reveal; “Drop That Name” at Jeff’s party; “The Party’s Over” after Ella leaves; “I’m Going Back” as Ella’s closing choice :contentReference[oaicite:31]{index=31}
• Original cast album: Columbia (original cast recording); Masterworks Broadway lists first LP release as Dec 11, 1956 :contentReference[oaicite:32]{index=32}
• Later recordings: Concord Theatricals Recordings catalogue includes the 2001 Broadway cast recording :contentReference[oaicite:33]{index=33}
• Availability: Licensed by Concord Theatricals; “updated version now available” via its Tams-Witmark collection listing :contentReference[oaicite:34]{index=34}

FAQ

Who is Ella, and why do the lyrics keep giving her “voices”?

She is an answering-service operator who entertains herself by inventing identities for callers. The lyric writing turns that into character psychology: she performs because she is lonely, then gets trapped by her own performance. :contentReference[oaicite:35]{index=35}

Where does “Just in Time” happen in the story?

It lands in Act II as the romantic release, after the party fallout and the plot’s pressures have tightened. In context, it plays as relief that arrives a beat before everything collapses again. :contentReference[oaicite:36]{index=36}

Why is “The Party’s Over” such a turning point?

Because Ella stops auditioning for acceptance. The lyric isn’t about punishing Jeff. It’s about refusing to shrink in a room full of people who treat her like a novelty. :contentReference[oaicite:37]{index=37}

Is there a movie version?

Yes. MGM released a 1960 film adaptation starring Judy Holliday and Dean Martin, with Holliday reprising her stage role. :contentReference[oaicite:38]{index=38}

Can theatres license it now?

Yes. Concord Theatricals actively licenses the show and notes updated materials in its catalogue. :contentReference[oaicite:39]{index=39}

Key Contributors

Sources: IBDB, Playbill, Concord Theatricals, Masterworks Broadway, Variety, Broadway.com, Wikipedia, Discogs, Cineaste.