This is a remake of the Deanna Durbin film It's a Date (1940). Both films were produced by Joe Pasternak, and in both the young star --- Jane Powell in this version --- sings "Musetta's Waltz" from Giacomo Puccini's opera "La Boheme."
In the marketplace, both MGM Records and Decca released versions of Carmen Miranda's pair of frolicsome movie songs, "Yipsee-I-O" (music and lyrics by Ray Gilbert) and "Ca-Room-Pa-Pa" (music and lyrics by Luiz Gonzaga, Humberto Teixeira and Gilbert). The MGM soundtrack album contained the prerecordings. For her last Decca session, Carmen was matched with The Andrews Sisters on each side of the single.
At the time Nancy Goes to Rio (1950) was released, Jane Powell's star was on the rise and Ann Sothern's was on the wane. As such, Sothern received top billing in the credits of the film itself, while Powell (the true box office draw), was top-billed on the promotional materials, artwork, and MGM's soundtrack album.
Nancy Goes to Rio (1950) was a turning point for Ann Sothern on two counts acknowledging her age. It was her first portrayal of a mother with a grown child, and the plot involved a playwright rejecting Sothern's character for a role --- despondently remarking "I thought she was younger!" --- which he then proceeds to offer to her daughter. Between the fact that Sothern had just scored a personal success on loan-out to Fox in A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and her role only factored peripherally in the story-line of this Jane Powell vehicle, one can only assume Sothern consented to the thankless assignment as a means of avoiding a contract suspension in finishing out her MGM contract, which she did with her next film, Shadow on the Wall (1950).
Although considered a minor musical in its time, Nancy Goes to Rio (1950) marked important transitions for three of the musical genre's most memorable stars. For Jane Powell, it was the last of the juvenile roles that had built her popularity at MGM. For Ann Sothern and Latin sensation Carmen Miranda, it marked an end to their associations with the studio. Sothern soon appeared in a series of television sitcoms.