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Donaldson Award
The Donaldson Awards were a set of theatre awards established in 1944 by the drama critic Robert Francis in honor of W. H. Donaldson (1864–1925), the founder of ''The Billboard'' (now ''Billboard'') magazine. Categories included "best new play", "best new musical", "best performance", "best debut" and "best costumes and set design". The winners were chosen by votes of the theatre community at large with no predetermined nominees and the winners were presented with a gold key and a scroll.Sagolla, Lisa Jo (2003). ''The Girl Who Fell Down A Biography of Joan McCracken''. Boston: University Press of New England. . p. 107. According to an article in ''Billboard'', "The Donaldson Awards are the stages' accolades to their own." The awards were discontinued in 1955 having been overshadowed by the Antoinette Perry Awards (Tony Awards). List of winners Eligibility List for 12th Annual Donaldson Awards (containing previous winners) "Award Winners, 1954–55 Season" ''Billboard'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broadway Theatre
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Theatre'' as the proper noun in their names (12 others used neither), with many performers and trade groups for live dramatic presentations also using the spelling ''theatre''. or Broadway, are the theatrical performances presented in the 41 professional theatres, each with 500 or more seats, located in the Theater District and the Lincoln Center along Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Broadway and London's West End together represent the highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world. While the thoroughfare is eponymous with the district and its collection of 41 theaters, and it is also closely identified with Times Square, only three of the theaters are located on Broadway itself (namely the Broadwa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Picnic (play)
''Picnic'' is a 1953 Play (theatre), play by William Inge. The play was premiered at the Music Box Theatre, Broadway theatre, Broadway, on 19 February 1953 in a Theatre Guild production, directed by Joshua Logan, which ran for 477 performances. The original cast featured Ralph Meeker, Eileen Heckart, Arthur O'Connell, Janice Rule, Reta Shaw, Kim Stanley and Paul Newman. Inge won the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work, and Logan received a Tony Award for Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play, Best Director. The play also won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play of the season. ''Picnic'' was Paul Newman's Broadway debut. An unknown at the time, Newman campaigned heavily for the leading role of Hal, but director Joshua Logan did not think Newman was physically large enough to convey the lead character's athletic attributes. As a result, Ralph Meeker was given the role of Hal opposite Janice Rule as Madge. Newman played Hal's former college roommate Alan S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winged Victory (play)
''Winged Victory'' is a 1943 play by Moss Hart, created and produced by the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II as a morale booster and as a fundraiser for the Army Emergency Relief Fund. Hart adapted the play for a 1944 motion picture directed by George Cukor. Plot summary ''Winged Victory'' tells the story of a group of recruits struggling to make it through pilot training. The trainees are a cross-section of American young men. Their personal lives, their families and sweethearts make up a small part of the story, but most of the drama focuses on training and camaraderie. Music plays a large part in the play, and most of the huge cast were primarily members of a chorus under the direction of famed choral leader Leonard de Paur. Among the musical numbers are "My Little Dream Book of Memories," and the stirring title anthem, "Winged Victory". Background Upon recommendation of Lt. Col. Dudley S. Dean, who had been approached with the idea by talent agent Irving Lazar a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moss Hart
Moss Hart (October 24, 1904 – December 20, 1961) was an American playwright, librettist, and theater director. Early years Hart was born in New York City, the son of Lillian (Solomon) and Barnett Hart, a cigar maker. He had a younger brother, Bernard. He grew up in relative poverty with his English-born Jewish immigrant parents in the Bronx and in Sea Gate, Brooklyn. He was the great-grandson of the Jewish bare-knuckle pugilist Barney Aaron. In his youth, he had a strong relationship with his Aunt Kate, with whom he later was to lose contact due to a falling out between her and his parents, and Kate's weakening mental state. She piqued his interest in the theater, taking him to see performances often. Hart even went so far as to create an "alternate ending" to her life in his book ''Act One (book), Act One''. He writes that she died while he was working on out-of-town tryouts for ''The Beloved Bandit.'' In later life, Kate had become eccentric and then disturbed, vandalism, v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inherit The Wind (play)
''Inherit the Wind'' is an American play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, which debuted in 1955. The story fictionalizes the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial as a means to discuss the then-contemporary McCarthy trials. Background ''Inherit the Wind'' is a fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial, which resulted in John T. Scopes' conviction for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to a high school science class, contrary to a Tennessee state law. The role of Matthew Harrison Brady is intended to reflect the personality and beliefs of William Jennings Bryan, while that of Henry Drummond is intended to be similar to that of Clarence Darrow. Bryan and Darrow, formerly close friends, opposed one another at the Scopes trial. The character of E. K. Hornbeck is modeled on that of H. L. Mencken, who covered the trial for ''The Baltimore Sun'', and the character of Bertram Cates corresponds to Scopes. However, the playwrights state in a note at the opening of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tea And Sympathy (play)
''Tea and Sympathy'' is a 1953 stage play in three acts by Robert Anderson about a male private school student, Tom Lee, who faces accusations of homosexuality. A woman, Laura, who is married to an instructor, opposes the students' shaming of Lee and romantically pursues him so he can prove that he has a masculine character.Thomas, Bob (May 17, 1956)"Deborah Kerr Signs For Unusual Role" ''Associated Press'' at the ''Milwaukee Sentinel''. Part 2, Page 15. Retrieved November 8, 2013. The title refers to what someone in Laura's position was supposed to offer a boy such as Tom. Everett Evans of the ''Houston Chronicle'' called it "one of the first plays to tackle the then-taboo topic of sexual orientation and related prejudice." Evans stated that the play's final line, "Years from now, when you speak of this, and you will, be kind," is "one of the most quoted curtain lines in stage history".Evans, Everett (August 7, 2013).Sensitive 'Tea and Sympathy' teaches lesson of acceptance" ''H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Love Of Four Colonels
''The Love of Four Colonels'' is a play by the British writer Peter Ustinov, first performed in 1951. It is a fantasy set around military officers from the four Allied Occupation Powers (American, British, French and Soviet) of postwar Germany. It premiered at The Alexandra, Birmingham before transferring to London's West End where it ran for 816 performances between 23 June 1951 and 9 May 1953, initially at Wyndham's Theatre before transferring to the Winter Garden Theare.The original West End cast included Ustinov, Moira Lister, Alan Gifford, Colin Gordon, Eugene Deckers, Theodore Bikel, Paul Hardtmuth, Patricia Jessel and Mary Hignett. Due to the length of the run, a number of replacements took the roles of original cast members including Cyril Luckham, Clifford Mollison, Ruth Trouncer.Wearing, p.98. It subsequently ran for 141 performances at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway in 1953 with a cast that included Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer. That year it was chosen as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Budd (play)
''Billy Budd'' is a play by Louis O. Coxe and Robert H. Chapman based on Herman Melville's novella of the same name. Originally titled ''Uniform of Flesh'', the play premiered Off-Broadway in 1949. Coxe and Chapman restructured and retitled the work for its Broadway debut in 1951. The revised version was a critical success, winning the Donaldson Award for Best First Play and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Play in 1951. In 1952 the play was adapted for the television anthology series ''Schlitz Playhouse of Stars'', and Peter Ustinov adapted the play into a film which premiered in 1962. Plot Set aboard the British naval vessel HMS ''Indomitable'' at sea in 1798, Billy Budd is a handsome, young, pure hearted and impressionable man who is the representation of good in the play. His counter is John Claggart, the Master of Arms, who is sadistic, bitter, and hates life. Claggart becomes envious of Billy's popularity with the crew and falsely accuses him of mutiny. Unable to d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward, My Son (play)
''Edward, My Son'' is a British play written by Noel Langley and Robert Morley. Its original West End run lasted for 782 performance between 30 May 1947 and 23 April 1949, initially at His Majesty's Theatre and then at the Lyric Theatre.Wearing p.308 The play portrays the moral decline of a business tycoon, Sir Arnold Holt, who has worked his way up from humble beginnings. Holt's efforts for social advancement are driven by his desire to provide the best for his only son, Edward of the title, who never actually appears. The original cast included Morley himself as Arnold Holt alongside Peggy Ashcroft, Leueen MacGrath and Richard Caldicot. John Clements later took over the lead role from Morley. In 1948 it transferred to Broadway, lasting for 260 performances at the Martin Beck Theatre. Original cast *Arnold Holt - Robert Morley *Evelyn Holt - Peggy Ashcroft *Dr. "Larry" Parker - John Robinson *Harry Soames - Richard Caldicot *Dr. Waxman - James Cairncross *Cunningham - Wal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mister Roberts (play)
''Mister Roberts'' is a 1948 play based on the 1946 Thomas Heggen novel of the same name. The novel began as a collection of short stories about Heggen's experiences aboard and in the South Pacific during World War II. Broadway producer Leland Hayward acquired the rights for the play and hired Heggen and Joshua Logan for the adaptation. ''Mister Roberts'' opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on February 18, 1948, starring Henry Fonda, David Wayne, Robert Keith, and Jocelyn Brando, who replaced Eva Marie Saint before the show opened. Logan's brother-in-law, William Harrigan, played the Captain. The original production also featured Harvey Lembeck, Ralph Meeker, Steven Hill, Lee Van Cleef, and Murray Hamilton. Fonda got out of a Hollywood film contract to star in the Broadway theatre stage production. He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. The production ran for 1,157 performances. Fonda later reprised his role of Lieutenant Roberts in the 1955 film of the same nam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
No Exit
''No Exit'' (french: Huis clos, links=no, ) is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre. The play was first performed at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in May 1944. The play begins with three characters who find themselves waiting in a mysterious room. It is a depiction of the afterlife in which three deceased characters are punished by being locked into a room together for eternity. It is the source of Sartre's especially famous phrase "L'enfer, c'est les autres" or "Hell is other people", a reference to Sartre's ideas about the look and the perpetual ontological struggle of being caused to see oneself as an object from the view of another consciousness. English translations have also been performed under the titles ''In Camera'', ''No Way Out'', ''Vicious Circle'', ''Behind Closed Doors'', and ''Dead End''. The original title, ''Huis clos'' ("closed door"), is the French equivalent of the legal term ''in camera'' (Latin: "in a chamber"), referring to a private ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Born Yesterday (play)
''Born Yesterday'' is a play written by Garson Kanin which premiered on Broadway in 1946, starring Judy Holliday as Billie Dawn. The play was adapted into a successful 1950 film of the same name. Plot An uncouth, corrupt rich junk dealer, Harry Brock, brings his showgirl mistress Billie Dawn with him to Washington, D.C. When Billie's ignorance becomes a liability to Brock's business dealings, he hires a journalist, Paul Verrall, to educate his girlfriend. In the process of learning, Billie Dawn realizes how corrupt Harry is and begins interfering with his plans to bribe a Congressman into passing legislation that would allow Brock's business to make more money. Productions 1946 Original Broadway ''Born Yesterday'' opened on February 4, 1946 on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre and ran there until November 6, 1948; the play transferred to Henry Miller's Theatre on November 9, 1948 and closed on December 31, 1949, after a total of 1,642 performances. it was the seventh long ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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