Lady In The Dark Biography Of A Musical

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Lady in the Dark

Author : Bruce D. Mcclung
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199725128
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (997 download)

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Book Synopsis Lady in the Dark by : Bruce D. Mcclung

Download or read book Lady in the Dark written by Bruce D. Mcclung and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-02-16 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Lady in the Dark opened on January 23, 1941, its many firsts immediately distinguished it as a new and unusual work. The curious directive to playwright Moss Hart to complete a play about psychoanalysis came from his own Freudian psychiatrist. For the first time since his brother George's death, Ira Gershwin returned to writing lyrics for the theater. And for ?migr? composer Kurt Weill, it was a crack at an opulent first-class production. Together Hart, Gershwin, and Weill (with a little help from the psychiatrist) produced one of the most innovative works in Broadway history. With a company of 101 and an astronomical budget, Lady in the Dark launched the career of a young nightclub performer named Danny Kaye and starred Gertrude Lawrence in the greatest triumph of her career. With standees at many performances, Lady in the Dark helped establish the practice of advance ticket sales on the Great White Way, while Paramount Pictures' bid for the film rights broke all records. New York Times drama critic Brooks Atkinson hailed the production as "splendid," anointed Kurt Weill 'the best writer of theatre music in the country,' and worshiped Gertrude Lawrence as "a goddess." Though Lady in the Dark was a smash-hit, it has never enjoyed a Broadway revival, and a certain mystique has grown up around its legendary original production. In this ground-breaking biography, bruce mcclung pieces together the musical's life story from sketches and drafts, production scripts, correspondence, photographs, costume and set designs, and thousands of clippings from the star's personal scrapbooks. He has interviewed eleven members of the original company to provide a one-of-a-kind glimpse into the backstage story. The result is a virtual ticket to opening night, the saga of how this musical play came to be, and the string of events that saved the experimental show at every turn. Although America was turned upside down by Pearl Harbor after the production was on the boards, Lady in the Dark played an important role for the war effort and rang up 777 performances in 12 cities. In what may be the most illuminating study of a single Broadway musical, this biography brings Lady in the Dark back to the spotlight and puts readers in the front row.

Weill's Musical Theater

Author : Stephen Hinton
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520271777
Total Pages : 586 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (22 download)

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Book Synopsis Weill's Musical Theater by : Stephen Hinton

Download or read book Weill's Musical Theater written by Stephen Hinton and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2012-04-10 with total page 586 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This book, the first scholarly consideration of Weill’s complete output of stage works, is without doubt the most important critical study of the composer’s oeuvre to date in any language. Hinton’s scholarship is superior and his insights original and illuminating. The product of several decades of engagement with Weill’s works, their sources and reception, as well as the secondary literature, the book is a stunning achievement. Brilliantly conceived and executed, it will take its place as one of the cornerstones of Weill studies.”—Kim H. Kowalke, University of Rochester and President, Kurt Weill Foundation for Music “In Weill’s Musical Theater: Stages of Reform, Stephen Hinton reminds us that Kurt Weill was always a revolutionary. The composer’s insistent dedication to a provocative, constantly evolving lyric theater that spoke directly to audiences meant that Weill remained as controversial as he was popular. The celebrity that endeared him to Broadway made him anathema in Berlin. Some sixty years after Weill’s death, Hinton is finally able to demonstrate the consistent brilliance, theatrical power, and coherence of a composer who revolutionized every genre he touched (or used) and whose collaborators read as a who’s who of twentieth-century theater.” —David Savran, author of Highbrow/Lowdown: Theater, Jazz, and the Making of the New Middle Class "Stephen Hinton presents us with an image of Weill that is at once monumental yet still alive. A truly Protean figure, Weill is not an easy man to grasp in his totality; Brecht once wrote that a man thrown into water will have to develop webbed feet, and as a refugee from Nazi Germany, Weill had to become a cultural amphibian. But in Weill's Musical Theater we see the composer from every angle: through the gaze of countless critics and reviewers, through Weill's own eyes, and finally through the filter of Hinton's judicious, focused prose. This account will stand."—Daniel Albright, author of Untwisting the Serpent: Modernism in Music, Literature, and Other Arts

Seriously Mad

Author : Aleksei Grinenko
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
ISBN 13 : 0472056441
Total Pages : 283 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (72 download)

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Book Synopsis Seriously Mad by : Aleksei Grinenko

Download or read book Seriously Mad written by Aleksei Grinenko and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2023-10-05 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the history of American musical theater's engagement with notions of madness, from Man of La Mancha to A Strange Loop

The Cambridge Companion to the Musical

Author : William A. Everett
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108228631
Total Pages : 503 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (82 download)

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Book Synopsis The Cambridge Companion to the Musical by : William A. Everett

Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to the Musical written by William A. Everett and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-21 with total page 503 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The expanded and updated third edition of this acclaimed Companion provides an accessible, broadly based survey of one of the liveliest and most popular forms of musical performance. It ranges from the American musical of the nineteenth century to the most recent productions on Broadway, in London's West End, and many other venues, and includes key information on singers, audiences, critical reception, and traditions. Contributors approach the subject from a wide variety of perspectives, including historical concerns, artistic aspects, important trends, attention to various genres, the importance of stars, the influence of race, the various disciplines of theatrical production, the musical in varied media, and changes in technology. Chapters related to the contemporary musical have been updated, and two new chapters cover the television musical and the British musical since 1970. Carefully organised and highly readable, it will be welcomed by enthusiasts, students, and scholars alike.

Modern American Drama: Playwriting in the 1940s

Author : Felicia Hardison Londré
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1350017493
Total Pages : 245 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis Modern American Drama: Playwriting in the 1940s by : Felicia Hardison Londré

Download or read book Modern American Drama: Playwriting in the 1940s written by Felicia Hardison Londré and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-11-14 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Decades of Modern American Drama series provides a comprehensive survey and study of the theatre produced in each decade from the 1930s to 2009 in eight volumes. Each volume equips readers with a detailed understanding of the context from which work emerged: an introduction considers life in the decade with a focus on domestic life and conditions, social changes, culture, media, technology, industry and political events; while a chapter on the theatre of the decade offers a wide-ranging and thorough survey of theatres, companies, dramatists, new movements and developments in response to the economic and political conditions of the day. The work of the four most prominent playwrights from the decade receives in-depth analysis and re-evaluation by a team of experts, together with commentary on their subsequent work and legacy. A final section brings together original documents such as interviews with the playwrights and with directors, drafts of play scenes, and other previously unpublished material. The major playwrights and their works to receive in-depth coverage in this volume include: * Eugene O'Neill: The Iceman Cometh (1946), A Moon for the Misbegotten (1947), Long Day's Journey Into Night (written 1941, produced 1956), and A Touch of the Poet (written 1942, produced 1958); * Tennessee Williams: The Glass Menagerie (1944), A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Summer and Smoke (1948); * Arthur Miller: All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), and The Crucible (1953); * Thornton Wilder: Our Town (1938), The Skin of Our Teeth (1942), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), and The Alcestiad (written 1940s).

The Oxford Handbook of the Hollywood Musical

Author : Dominic Broomfield-McHugh
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 019750342X
Total Pages : 665 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (975 download)

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Book Synopsis The Oxford Handbook of the Hollywood Musical by : Dominic Broomfield-McHugh

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of the Hollywood Musical written by Dominic Broomfield-McHugh and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022-09-16 with total page 665 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the release of Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! in 2001, the film musical has returned to popularity as one of the most important cinematic genres, a box office hit that appeals to audiences of all ages. Yet the history of the musical on film goes back over seven decades earlier than that, stretching from early examples like The Jazz Singer (1927), the first ever film with synchronized sound, through the Astaire-Rogers musicals of the 1930s, the MGM and Warner Brothers extravaganzas of the 1940s and '50s, and the roadshow era of the 1960s. The genre's renaissance with La La Land (2016) and The Greatest Showman (2017) proves that it remains as appealing as ever, capable of both high critical acclaim and widespread box office success. The Oxford Handbook of the Hollywood Musical, curated by editor Dominic Broomfield-McHugh, reflects and expands on current scholarship on the film musical in a handbook that mixes new discoveries through archival research with new perspectives on familiar titles. It addresses issues such as why audiences accept people bursting into song in musicals; how technology affects the way numbers are staged; and how writers have adapted their material to suit certain stars. It also looks at critical issues such as racism and sexism, and assesses the role and nature of the film musical in the twenty-first century. A remarkable survey at the cutting edge of the field, The Oxford Handbook of the Hollywood Musical will be a resource for students and scholars alike for years to come.

Enchanted Evenings

Author : Geoffrey Block
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780199741502
Total Pages : 480 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (415 download)

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Book Synopsis Enchanted Evenings by : Geoffrey Block

Download or read book Enchanted Evenings written by Geoffrey Block and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-10-30 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new second edition of Enchanted Evenings offers theater lovers an illuminating behind-the-scenes tour of some of America's best loved, most admired, and most enduring musicals. Readers will find such all-time favorites as Show Boat, Carousel, Kiss Me, Kate, Guys and Dolls, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, and Phantom of the Opera. Geoffrey Block provides a documentary history of each of the musicals, showing how each work took shape and revealing, at the same time, how the American musical evolved from the 1920s to today, both on stage and on screen. The book's particular focus is on the music, offering a wealth of detail about how librettist, lyricist, composer, and director work together to shape the piece. Block also includes trenchant social commentary and lively backstage anecdotes. Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hart, Kurt Weill, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, Frank Loesser, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and other luminaries emerge as hardworking craftsmen under enormous pressure to sell tickets without compromising their dramatic vision. The second edition includes a greatly expanded chapter on Sondheim, a new chapter on Lloyd Webber, and two new chapters on the film adaptations of the main musicals featured in the text (including such hard to find films as the original 1936 version of Anything Goes and the 1959 film adaptation of Porgy and Bess). Packed with information, including a complete discography and plot synopses and song-by-song scenic outlines for each of the fourteen shows, Enchanted Evenings is an essential reference as well as a riveting history. "A solid and fascinating work that should become a model of how to investigate and report on the evolution of a musical. Block's research is persuasive and his writing vivid. . . Indispensable for anyone who cares to know more about Broadway musicals than Playbill can provide." --Steven Bach, The Los Angeles Times Book Review

The Poets of Tin Pan Alley

Author : Philip Furia
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190906464
Total Pages : 737 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (99 download)

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Book Synopsis The Poets of Tin Pan Alley by : Philip Furia

Download or read book The Poets of Tin Pan Alley written by Philip Furia and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022 with total page 737 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Mrs. Oscar Hammerstein, so the story goes, once overheard someone praise "Ol' Man River" as a "great Kern song." "I beg your pardon," she said, "But Jerome Kern did not write 'Ol' Man River.' Mr. Kern wrote dum dum dum da; my husband wrote ol' man river." It's easy to understand her frustration. While the years between World Wars I and II have long been hailed as the "golden age" of American popular song, it is the composers, not the lyricists, who always usually get top billing. "I love a Gershwin tune" too often means just that-the tune-even though George Gershwin wrote many unlovable tunes before he began working with his brother Ira in 1924. Few people realize that their favorite "Arlen" songs each had a different lyricist-Ted Koehler for "Stormy Weather," Yip Harburg for "Over the Rainbow," Johnny Mercer for "That Old Black Magic." Only Broadway or Hollywood buffs know which "Kern" songs get their wry touch from Dorothy Fields, who would flippantly rhyme "fellow" with "Jello," and which of Kern's sonorous melodies got even lusher from Otto Harbach, who preferred solemn rhymes like "truth" and "forsooth." Jazz critics sometimes pride themselves on ignoring the lyrics to Waller and Ellington "instrumentals," blithely consigning Andy Razaf or Don George to oblivion"--

Historical Dictionary of the Broadway Musical

Author : William A. Everett
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1442256699
Total Pages : 465 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (422 download)

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Book Synopsis Historical Dictionary of the Broadway Musical by : William A. Everett

Download or read book Historical Dictionary of the Broadway Musical written by William A. Everett and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2015-11-12 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Broadway musical has greatly influenced both American and world culture. Shows such as Oklahoma! and Annie Get Your Gun are as American as apple pie, while the long runs of imports such as Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, and Les Misérables have broken records. Shows filled with rock and pop music such as Mamma Mia! and Wicked enthrall audiences, and revivals of beloved shows play an important role in contemporary Broadway culture. Actors Ethel Merman, Yul Brynner, Julie Andrews, Bernadette Peters, and Audra McDonald; composers and lyricists Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Jeanine Tesori; and directors and choreographers George Abbott, Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse, Tommy Tune, and Susan Stroman—to name only a few—have gained national and international recognition by way of the Broadway musical stage. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of the Broadway Musical contains a chronology, an introduction, an appendix, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1000 cross-referenced entries on Broadway shows, composers, playwrights, directors, producers, designers, actors, and theatres. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Broadway musicals.

Dance in Musical Theatre

Author : Phoebe Rumsey
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1350235555
Total Pages : 548 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (52 download)

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Book Synopsis Dance in Musical Theatre by : Phoebe Rumsey

Download or read book Dance in Musical Theatre written by Phoebe Rumsey and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-12-14 with total page 548 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Oklahoma! and West Side Story, to Spring Awakening and Hamilton, dance remains one of the most important and key factors in musical theatre. Through the integration of song and dance in the 'dream ballets' of choreographers like Agnes De Mille; the triple threat performances of Jerome Robbins' dancers; the signature style creation by choreographers like Bob Fosse with dancers like Gwen Verdon; and the contemporary, identity-driven work of choreographers like Camille A. Brown, the history of the body in movement is one that begs study and appreciation. Dance in Musical Theatre offers guidelines in how to read this movement by analyzing it in terms of composition and movement vocabulary whilst simultaneously situating it both historically and critically. This collection provides the tools, terms, history, and movement theory for reading, interpreting, and centralizing a discussion of dance in musical theatre, importantly, with added emphasis on women and artists of color. Bringing together musical theatre and dance scholars, choreographers and practitioners, this edited collection highlights musical theatre case studies that employ dance in a dramaturgically essential manner, tracking the emergence of the dancer as a key figure in the genre, and connecting the contributions to past and present choreographers. This collection foregrounds the work of the ensemble, incorporating firsthand and autoethnographic accounts that intersect with historical and cultural contexts. Through a selection of essays, this volume conceptualizes the function of dance in musical: how it functions diegetically as a part of the story or non-diegetically as an amplification of emotion, as well as how the dancing body works to reveal character psychology by expressing an unspoken aspect of the libretto, embodying emotions or ideas through metaphor or abstraction. Dance in Musical Theatre makes dance language accessible for instructors, students, and musical theatre enthusiasts, providing the tools to critically engage with the work of important choreographers and dancers from the beginning of the 20th century to today.

Pal Joey

Author : Julianne Lindberg
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190051213
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis Pal Joey by : Julianne Lindberg

Download or read book Pal Joey written by Julianne Lindberg and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Rodgers and Hart's Pal Joey opened at the Barrymore on Christmas day, 1940, it flew in the face of musical comedy convention. The characters and situation were depraved. The setting was caustically realistic. Its female lead was frankly sexual and yet not purely comic. A narratively-driven dream ballet closed the first act, begging audiences to take seriously the inner life and desires of a confirmed heel. Pal Joey: The History of a Heel presents a behind-the-scenes look at the genesis, influence, and significance of this classic musical comedy. Although the show appears on many top-ten lists surveying the Golden Age, it is a controversial classic; its legacy is tied both to the fashionable scandal that it provoked, and, retrospectively, to the uncommon attention it paid to characterization and narrative cohesion. Through an archive-driven investigation of the show and its music, author Julianne Lindberg offers insight into the historical moment during which Joey was born, and to the process of genre classification, canon formation, and the ensuing critical debates related to musical and theatrical maturity. More broadly, the book argues that the critique and commentary on class and gender conventions in Pal Joey reveals a uniquely American concern over status, class mobility, and progressive gender roles in the pre-war era.

The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical

Author : Raymond Knapp
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 019998736X
Total Pages : 481 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (999 download)

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Book Synopsis The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical by : Raymond Knapp

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical written by Raymond Knapp and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-03 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text presents keywords and critical terms that deepen analysis and interpretation of the musical. Taking into account issues of composition, performance, and reception, the book's contributors bring a range of practical and theoretical perspectives to bear on their considerations of American musicals.

Media and Performance in the Musical

Author : Raymond Knapp
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190877847
Total Pages : 160 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (98 download)

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Book Synopsis Media and Performance in the Musical by : Raymond Knapp

Download or read book Media and Performance in the Musical written by Raymond Knapp and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-04 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the past several years, the American musical has continued to thrive by reflecting and shaping cultural values and social norms, and even commenting on politics, whether directly and on a national scale (Hamilton) or somewhat more obliquely and on a more intimate scale (Fun Home). New stage musicals, such as Come from Away and The Band's Visit, open on Broadway every season, challenging conventions of form and content, and revivals offer audiences a different perspective on extant shows (Carousel; My Fair Lady). Television musicals broadcast live hearken back to 1950s television's affection for musical theatre and aim to attract new audiences through the accessibility of television. Film musicals, including Les Misérables and Into the Woods, capitalize on the medium's technical capabilities of perspective and point of view, as well as visual spectacle. Television has embraced the genre anew, and with unexpected gusto, not only devising musical episodes for countless dramatic and comedy series, but also generating musical series such as Galavant and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. And animated musicals, such as Disney's Moana, hail child and adult audiences with their dual messages, vibrant visual vocabulary, and hummable music. The chapters gathered in this book, Volume II of the reissued Oxford Handbook, explore the American musical from the various media in which musicals have been created to the different components of a musical and the people who do the work to bring a musical to life.

A Critical Companion to the American Stage Musical

Author : Elizabeth L. Wollman
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1472510488
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (725 download)

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Book Synopsis A Critical Companion to the American Stage Musical by : Elizabeth L. Wollman

Download or read book A Critical Companion to the American Stage Musical written by Elizabeth L. Wollman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-09-21 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Critical Companion to the American Stage Musical provides the perfect introductory text for students of theatre, music and cultural studies. It traces the history and development of the industry and art form in America with a particular focus on its artistic and commercial development in New York City from the early 20th century to the present. Emphasis is placed on commercial, artistic and cultural events that influenced the Broadway musical for an ever-renewing, increasingly broad and diverse audience: the Gilded Age, the Great Depression, the World War II era, the British invasion in the 1980s and the media age at the turn of the twenty-first century. Supplementary essays by leading scholars provide detailed focus on the American musical's production and preservation, as well as its influence on daily life on the local, national, and international levels. For students, these essays provide models of varying approaches and interpretation, equipping them with the skills and understanding to develop their own analysis of key productions.

That's Entertainment

Author : Tighe E. Zimmers
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 147664165X
Total Pages : 394 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

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Book Synopsis That's Entertainment by : Tighe E. Zimmers

Download or read book That's Entertainment written by Tighe E. Zimmers and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2021-05-19 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arthur Schwartz (1900-1984), a premier composer of American Popular Song during the mid-20th century, has been overlooked by historians. This first full-length biography covers his work on Broadway and in Hollywood, where he was known as the "master of the intimate revue" for his songs in the 1930s with Howard Dietz. Schwartz wrote music for films in the 1940s--with Academy Award nominations for They're Either Too Young or Too Old and A Gal in Calico--produced two popular movie musicals--Cover Girl and Night and Day--and was among the first songwriters to work in the new medium of television. The author describes his creative process and includes behind-the-scenes stories of each of his major musicals.

The Incomparable Hildegarde

Author : Monica Storme Gallamore
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476630739
Total Pages : 206 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

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Book Synopsis The Incomparable Hildegarde by : Monica Storme Gallamore

Download or read book The Incomparable Hildegarde written by Monica Storme Gallamore and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2018-03-30 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Incomparable Hildegarde (1906–2005) began her career as a pianist in Milwaukee’s silent movie theaters, which led to the Vaudeville stage. By the 1930s, she was singing in the cabarets of Paris and London, rubbing elbows with royalty, White Russians and Josephine Baker. She then became a darling of the New York supper club scene and her name became synonymous with high-class entertainment at venues like the Plaza Hotel’s Persian Room. She started fashion trends, had her own signature Revlon nail and lip color, and was the first to have song hits in the World War II era. This first biography of Hildegarde Sill covers her 70-year career, including her intimate relationship with her manager, Anna Sosenko, and emphasizes her importance in 20th-century American popular culture.

Agnes de Mille

Author : Kara Anne Gardner
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199997853
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (999 download)

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Book Synopsis Agnes de Mille by : Kara Anne Gardner

Download or read book Agnes de Mille written by Kara Anne Gardner and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-07-13 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the Broadway legacy of choreographer Agnes de Mille, from the 1940s through the 1960s. Six musicals are discussed in depth - Oklahoma!, One Touch of Venus, Bloomer Girl, Carousel, Brigadoon, and Allegro. Oklahoma!, Carousel, and Brigadoon were de Mille's most influential and lucrative Broadway works. The other three shows exemplify aspects of her legacy that have not been fully examined, including the impact of her ideas on some of the composers with whom she worked; her ability to incorporate a previously conceived work into the context of a Broadway show; and her trailblazing foray into the role of choreographer/director. Each chapter emphasizes de Mille's unique contributions to the original productions. Several themes emerge in looking closely at de Mille's Broadway repertoire. Character development remained at the heart of her theatrical work work. She often took minor characters, represented with minimal or no dialogue, and fleshed out their stories. These stories added a layer of meaning that resulted in more complex productions. Sometimes, de Mille's stories were different from the stories her collaborators wanted to tell, which caused many conflicts. Because her unique ideas often got woven into the fabric of her musicals, de Mille saw her choreography as an authorship. She felt she should be given the same rights as the librettist and the composer. De Mille's work as an activist is an aspect of her legacy that has largely been overlooked. She contributed to revisions in dance copyright law and was a founding member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a theatrical union that protects the rights of directors and choreographers. Her contention that choreographers are authors who have their own stories to tell offers a new way of understanding the Broadway musical.