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George S. Irving
George S. Irving (born Irving Shelasky; November 1, 1922 – December 26, 2016) was an American actor known primarily for his character roles on Broadway theatre, Broadway and as the voice of Heat Miser in the American Christmas television specials beginning with ''The Year Without a Santa Claus'' (1974). Early life He was born Irving Shelasky in Springfield, Massachusetts, to Abraham and Rebecca Shelasky, as one of four siblings. His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants. When Irving was 13 or 14, he sang in synagogues and churches as a boy soprano. By his final high school year in 1940, he heard about a dramatic school in Boston for those who were not quite draft age and who were tall and had deep voices, so he immediately received a scholarship. In 1942, he worked in the chorus of the St. Louis Muny Opera. Career On stage Irving made his debut in the original 1943 production of ''Oklahoma!'', only to be drafted days later to serve in the United States Army in World War I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rodgers And Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their popular Broadway productions in the 1940s and 1950s initiated what is considered the "golden age" of musical theater. Gordon, John Steele''Oklahoma'!'. Retrieved June 13, 2010 Five of their Broadway shows, ''Oklahoma!'', '' Carousel'', '' South Pacific'', ''The King and I'' and ''The Sound of Music'', were outstanding successes, as was the television broadcast of ''Cinderella'' (1957). Of the other four shows that the team produced on Broadway during their lifetimes, ''Flower Drum Song'' was well-received, and none was an outright flop. Most of their shows have received frequent revivals around the world, both professional and amateur. Among the many accolades their shows (and film versions) garnered were thirty-four Tony Awards, fifteen Academ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Promenade (musical)
''Promenade'' was an experimental musical comedy with book and lyrics by María Irene Fornés and music by Rev. Al Carmines, originally produced off-Broadway by Edgar Lansbury and Joseph Beruh. In a review in ''The New York Times'' for a 1983 New York revival, Stephen Holden linked the production to the Theatre of the Absurd: "This work, which suggests a mixture of ''Candide'' and Samuel Beckett viewed through Lewis Carroll's looking glass, is a little too avant-garde and absurdist to appeal to mainstream tastes. But in its odd way it's an exquisite piece of musical theater." Original production ''Promenade'' premiered on April 9, 1965 at the Judson Poets' Theatre, Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square, NYC, where it played for three weekends. It was then produced four years later in a commercial run Off-Broadway at the Promenade Theatre (for which it was named), produced by Edgar Lansbury and Joseph Beruh, opening on June 4, 1969. The cast was led by Madeline Kahn, pl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Happy Time
''The Happy Time'' is a 1952 American comedy-drama film directed by the award-winning director Richard Fleischer, based on the 1945 novel of the same name by Robert Fontaine, which Samuel A. Taylor turned into a hit play. A boy, played by Bobby Driscoll, comes of age in a close-knit French-Canadian family. The film stars Charles Boyer and Louis Jourdan as his father and uncle respectively. The play was also adapted into a musical in 1967 by composer John Kander, lyricist Fred Ebb, and librettist N. Richard Nash, and starred Robert Goulet. Plot Young Robert "Bibi" Bonnard (Bobby Driscoll) grows up in Ottawa, Ontario, with his parents, Jacques (Charles Boyer) and Susan ( Marsha Hunt), and his roving rogue of a grandfather, Grandpere ( Marcel Dalio). Across the street is his uncle, amiable drunkard Louis (Kurt Kasznar), who ignores the complaints of his hard-working dressmaker wife Felice (Jeanette Nolan) and her worries about the future of their daughter Yvonne. Louis agitates abo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anya (musical)
''Anya'' is a musical with a book by George Abbott and Guy Bolton and music and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest. As they had done with ''Song of Norway (1944)'' and '' Kismet (1953)'', Wright and Forrest developed the musical score using themes written by a classical composer, in this case Sergei Rachmaninoff. Based on Bolton's 1954 English adaptation of Marcelle Maurette's 1952 play ''Anastasia'' and the subsequent 1956 film adaptation of the same name, it focuses on Anya who, when discovered in a Berlin psychiatric facility in 1925 by taxi driver Bounine, a former Cossack general in Czarist Russia, claims to be Anastasia, the supposedly murdered youngest daughter of Emperor Nicholas II. A number of fictional elements, including a romantic triangle involving Anya, Bounine, and his mistress Genia and the addition of a comical character, café proprietor Katrina, weakened the plot of the true story. It also continued to perpetuate the notion that the Dowager Empress ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tovarich (musical)
''Tovarich'' is a 1963 musical play in two acts with book by David Shaw; music by Lee Pockriss and lyrics by Anne Croswell; based on the comedy by Jacques Deval and Robert E. Sherwood. Productions The musical opened in New York at The Broadway Theatre on 18 March 1963 then transferred to Majestic Theatre and the Winter Garden Theatre. It ran for a total 264 performances. The production was directed by Peter Glenville and choreographed by Herbert Ross. The original cast included Vivien Leigh, Jean Pierre Aumont, George S. Irving, Louise Kirtland, Alexander Scourby and Louise Troy. Vivien Leigh won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Leigh left the production on short notice because of illness; understudy Joan Copeland took over the role October 7, 1963 and she was replaced by Eva Gabor Eva Gabor ( ; February 11, 1919 – July 4, 1995) was a Hungarian-American actress, businesswoman, singer, and socialite. She voiced Duchess and Miss Bianca in the animated Disney ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bravo Giovanni
''Bravo Giovanni'' is a musical theatre, musical with a book by A. J. Russell, lyrics by Ronny Graham, and music by Milton Schafer. It is based upon Howard Shaw's 1959 novel, ''The Crime of Giovanni Venturi''. The musical was conceived as a vehicle for opera star Cesare Siepi, and the story concerned a family-owned Italian restaurant's efforts to compete with a restaurant chain.Bordman, 683 Background After three previews, the Broadway theatre, Broadway production, directed by Stanley Prager and choreographed by Carol Haney, opened on May 19, 1962 at the Broadhurst Theatre, where it ran for 76 performances. The cast included Cesare Siepi, Michele Lee, David Opatoshu, George S. Irving, Maria Karnilova, Lainie Kazan, Larry Fuller (choreographer), Larry Fuller, and Baayork Lee. The show received Tony Award nominations for Best Composer and Lyricist, Best Choreography, and Best Conductor and Musical Director. An cast album, original cast recording was released by Columbia Records. Sy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irma La Douce (musical)
''Irma la douce'' (, "Irma the Sweet") is a 1956 French musical with music by Marguerite Monnot and lyrics and book by Alexandre Breffort. The musical premiered in Paris in 1956, and was subsequently produced in the West End in 1958 and on Broadway, by David Merrick, in 1960. The English lyrics and book (1958) are by Julian More, David Heneker, and Monty Norman. Productions The musical premiered in Paris at the Théâtre Gramont in Paris on November 12, 1956, where it ran for four years. It was produced in the West End at the Lyric Theatre, opening on July 17, 1958, running for 1,512 performances, for three years."Sweet Irma in a Wicked World" ''Life Magazine'', November 14, 1960. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shinbone Alley
''Shinbone Alley'' (sometimes performed as ''archy & mehitabel'') is a musical with a book by Joe Darion and Mel Brooks, lyrics by Darion, and music by George Kleinsinger. Based on the album ''Archy and Mehitabel: A Back-Alley Opera'', which in turned was based on ''archy and mehitabel'', a series of ''New York Tribune'' columns by Don Marquis (illustrated by Krazy Kat author George Herriman), it focuses on poetic cockroach archy (who wasn't strong enough to depress the typewriter's shift-key), alley cat mehitabel, and her relationships with theatrical cat tyrone t. tattersal and tomcat big bill, under the watchful eye of the newspaperman, the voice-over narrator and only human being in the show. Productions and background The project began in 1954 as a Columbia Records concept album with Marquis' original title, featuring Eddie Bracken, Carol Channing, and David Wayne. That same year a concert version was presented by the Little Orchestra Society at The Town Hall in New York ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bells Are Ringing (musical)
''Bells Are Ringing'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The story revolves around Ella, who works at an answering service, and the characters that she meets there. The main character was based on Mary Printz, who worked for Green's answering service. Three of the show's tunes, "Long Before I Knew You", " Just in Time", and " The Party's Over", became standards. Judy Holliday reprised her Broadway starring role in the 1960 film of the same name, also starring Dean Martin. Productions The original Broadway production, directed by Jerome Robbins and choreographed by Robbins and Bob Fosse, opened on November 29, 1956 at the Shubert Theatre, where it ran for slightly more than two years before transferring to the Alvin Theatre, for a total run of 924 performances. It starred Judy Holliday as Ella and Sydney Chaplin as Jeff Moss. It also featured Jean Stapleton as Sue Summers, Eddie Lawrence as Sandor, George S. Irving, Jac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Can-Can (musical)
''Can-Can'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and a book by Abe Burrows. The story concerns the showgirls of the Montmartre dance halls during the 1890s. The original Broadway production ran for over two years beginning in 1953, and the 1954 West End production was also a success. Gwen Verdon, in only her second Broadway role, and choreographer Michael Kidd won Tony Awards and were praised, but both the score and book received tepid reviews, and revivals generally have not fared well. Production history After the pre-Broadway tryout at the Shubert Theatre in Philadelphia in March 1953, ''Can-Can'' premiered on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre on May 7, 1953, and closed on June 25, 1955 after 892 performances. The original production, which Burrows also directed, starred Lilo as La Mome, Hans Conried as Boris, Peter Cookson as the judge, Gwen Verdon as Claudine, Dania Krupska, Phil Leeds, Dee Dee Wood, and Erik Rhodes as Hilaire. Michael Kidd was the choreograp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Two's Company (musical)
''Two's Company'' is a musical revue with principal sketches by Charles Sherman and Peter DeVries, principal lyrics by Ogden Nash and Sammy Cahn, and principal music by Vernon Duke. The evening consisted of a series of show business-themed comedy sketches and song-and-dance routines tailored for the talents of its centerpiece, Bette Davis, who accepted the challenge of an eight-shows-a-week schedule when good film roles failed to follow her triumph in ''All About Eve''. The out-of-town tryout opened at the Shubert Theatre in Detroit on October 19, 1952. In the middle of the third chorus of her first song, an overworked Davis collapsed. Revived by her then-husband Gary Merrill, she walked to the apron of the stage and with a smile commented to the audience, "Well, you can't say I didn't fall for you!," winning over both them and the critics, whose reviews were kind. From there the show moved to Pittsburgh, where it was met with less enthusiasm, and the creative team began reshapi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
