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High Spirits (musical)
''High Spirits'' is a musical theatre, musical with a book, lyrics, and music by Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray, based on the play ''Blithe Spirit (play), Blithe Spirit'' by Noël Coward, about a man's problems caused by the spirit of his dead wife. Martin and Gray adhered closely to Coward's original text, although they expanded the Mediumship, medium's character to make it the star role. The playwright was delighted with their adaptation, then entitled ''Faster Than Sound'', and agreed to direct it himself. Productions Originally, Coward had mentally cast Keith Michell as Charles, Gwen Verdon as Elvira, Celeste Holm as Ruth, and Kay Thompson as Madame Arcati, with Bob Fosse as director. Coward's dream cast failed to materialize, but he continued with the project.Graham Payn, Payn, Graham. ''My Life with Noël Coward'', Applause Books, 1994. p. 174 The musical opened on Broadway theatre, Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre, Alvin Theatre on April 7, 1964, and closed on February ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugh Martin
Hugh Martin (August 11, 1914 – March 11, 2011) was an American musical theater and film composer, arranger, vocal coach, and playwright. He was best known for his score for the 1944 MGM musical ''Meet Me in St. Louis'', in which Judy Garland sang three Martin songs, "The Boy Next Door (song), The Boy Next Door," "The Trolley Song," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." The last of these has become a Christmas season standard in the United States and around the English-speaking world. Martin became a close friend of Garland and was her accompanist at many of her concert performances in the 1950s, including her appearances at the Palace Theater (Broadway), Palace Theater. Early life Martin was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the son of Ellie Gordon (Robinson) and Hugh Martin Sr., an architect. He attended Birmingham-Southern College where he studied music. He was a member of the Beta Beta Chapter of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. Career Martin wrote the music, and in so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ethan Mordden
Ethan Mordden (born 1947) is an American author and musical theater researcher. Biography Mordden was born and raised in Pennsylvania, Venice, Italy, and on Long Island, New York. He is a graduate of Friends Academy and the University of Pennsylvania. He first sought a career in show business, working as music director on off-Broadway and in regional theatre, and enrolling in the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop run by Lehman Engel. As both composer and lyricist, Mordden wrote musicals based on William Shakespeare's ''Measure For Measure'' and on Max Beerbohm's ''Zuleika Dobson'', but he ultimately ended up earning his living as a writer of English prose. In the 1970s, he was assistant editor to Dorothy Woolfolk on DC Comics such as ''The Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love''. Works His stories, novels, essays, and non-fiction books cover a wide range of topics including the American musical theater, opera, film, and, especially in his fiction, the emergence and developmen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Music Corporation Of America
MCA Inc. (originally an initialism for Music Corporation of America) was an American media conglomerate founded in 1924. Originally a talent agency with artists in the music business as clients, the company became a major force in the film industry, and later expanded into television production. MCA published music, booked acts, ran a record company, represented film, television, and radio stars, and eventually produced and sold television programs to the three major television networks, especially NBC. MCA was the legal predecessor of Vivendi, Vivendi Universal and thereby NBCUniversal. Its other legal successor (business), legal successor is Universal Music Group Holding Corp, a holding company owned by Universal Music Group (which has absorbed PolyGram). History Early years MCA was formed in 1924 by Jules Stein and William R. Goodheart, Jr., as Music Corporation of America, a music booking agency based in Chicago, Illinois. MCA helped pioneer modern practices of touring ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ABC Records
ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels before ABC was sold to MCA Records in 1979. ABC produced music in a variety of genres: pop, rock, jazz, country, rhythm and blues, soundtrack, gospel, and polka. In addition to producing records, ABC licensed masters from independent record producers, and purchased regionally released records for national distribution. The label was initially called Am-Par Records (1955), but quickly changed to ABC-Paramount Records (1955–1966), and then renamed ABC Records in 1966. History Background In the 1940s and early 1950s, the Federal Communications Commission took action against the Anti-competitive practices of movie studios and broadcasting companies, forcing the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) to sell the Blue Network, the sister network ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cast Album
A cast recording is a recording of a stage musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording or OCR, as the name implies, features the voices of the show's original cast. A cast recording featuring the first cast to perform a musical in a particular venue is known, for example, as an "original Broadway cast recording" (OBCR) or an "original London cast recording" (OLCR). Cast recordings are (usually) studio recordings rather than live recordings. The recorded song lyrics and orchestrations are nonetheless identical (or very similar) to those of the songs as performed in the theatre. Like any studio performance, the recording is an idealized rendering, more glossily perfect than any live performance could be, and without audible audience reaction. Nevertheless, the listener who has attended the live show expects it to be an accurate souvenir of the experience. History The British were the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hello, Dolly! (musical)
''Hello, Dolly!'' is a 1964 musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce ''The Merchant of Yonkers'', which Wilder revised and retitled ''The Matchmaker'' in 1955. The musical follows the story of Dolly Gallagher Levi, a strong-willed matchmaker, as she travels to Yonkers, New York, to find a match for the miserly "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder. ''Hello, Dolly!'' debuted at the Fisher Theater in Detroit on November 18, 1963, directed and choreographed by Gower Champion and produced by David Merrick, and moved to Broadway in 1964, winning 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. These awards set a record which the play held for 37 years. The show album ''Hello, Dolly! An Original Cast Recording'' was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002. The album reached number one on the Billboard album chart on June 6, 1964, and was replaced the next week by Louis Armstrong's album ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Funny Girl (musical)
''Funny Girl'' is a musical with score by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill, and book by Isobel Lennart, that first opened on Broadway in 1964. The semi-biographical plot is based on the life and career of comedian and Broadway star Fanny Brice, featuring her stormy relationship with entrepreneur and gambler Nicky Arnstein. Barbra Streisand starred in the original Broadway musical, produced by Brice's son-in-law Ray Stark. The production received eight nominations at the 18th Tony Awards. The original cast recording of ''Funny Girl'' was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004. A Broadway revival, with a revised book by Harvey Fierstein, opened April 24, 2022, starring Beanie Feldstein. Lea Michele was subsequently cast in September 2022, releasing a new Broadway cast recording two months later. Synopsis The musical is set in and around New York City just prior to and following World War I. ''Ziegfeld Follies'' star Fanny Brice, awaiting the return of her husband Nicky ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valentina (fashion Designer)
Valentina Nicholaevna Sanina Schlee (1 May 1899 – 14 September 1989), simply known as Valentina, was a Russian Ukrainian émigrée fashion designer and theatrical costume designer active from 1928 to the late 1950s.Obituary of Valentina Schlee, ''Los Angeles Times'', 18 September 1989, part I p. 19 Early years Schlee was born and raised in Kyiv, Russian Empire (modern-day Ukraine). She was studying drama in Kharkiv at the outbreak of the October Revolution in 1917. She met her Russian financier husband, George Schlee (died 1964), at the Sevastopol railway station as she was fleeing the country with her family jewels; there is some question as to whether they were legally wed. George Schlee is best known for his 20-year friendship with film star Greta Garbo. The Schlees arrived in New York City in 1923 and became prominent members of café society during the Roaring Twenties. Valentina "stood out" for her clothes and style at the time because she appeared in floor-lengths and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jules Fisher
Jules Fisher (born November 12, 1937) is an American lighting designer and producer. He is credited with lighting designs for more than 300 productions over the course of his 50-year career in Broadway and off-Broadway shows, as well extensive work in film, ballet, opera, television, and rock and roll concert tours. He has been nominated 20 times for Tony Awards (as a lighting designer) and won nine Tony awards for Lighting Design, more than any other lighting designer. Biography Fisher was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, the son of Anne (Davidson) and Abraham Fisher, a retailer. He is a graduate of Carnegie Institute of Technology.Rothstein, Mervy"A Life in the Theatre: Lighting Designers Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer" playbill.com, June 23, 2005 He is married to choreographer-director Graciela Daniele. He has been in a professional partnership with lighting designer Peggy Eisenhauer since 1985, and they formed Third Eye Ltd, a firm specializing in entertainment and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. Prolific in film, television and on stage, Walken is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards. His films have grossed more than $1.6 billion in the United States alone. Walken has appeared in supporting roles in films such as ''The Anderson Tapes'' (1971), ''Next Stop, Greenwich Village'' (1976), '' Roseland'' (1977) and ''Annie Hall'' (1977) before coming to wider attention as the troubled Vietnam War veteran Nick Chevotarevich in ''The Deer Hunter'' (1978). His performance earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was nominated for the same award for portraying con artist Frank Abagnale's father in Steven Spielberg's ''Catch Me If You Can'' (2002). Since his breakthrough, Walken has appeared in films in various genres, both in lead a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carol Arthur
Carol Arata (August 4, 1935 – November 1, 2020), known professionally as Carol Arthur, was an American actress, mainly recognizable in supporting roles in films directed by Mel Brooks. Early life Arthur was born in Hackensack, New Jersey and raised in nearby East Rutherford, the daughter of Mildred (''née'' Foehl) and Peter Arata, a police officer. She graduated from East Rutherford High School, where she edited the school paper and performed on stage. ''Commercial Leader and South-Bergen Review''. December 12, 1984. Accessed November 3, 2020. "Carol DeLuise, the former Carol Arata of East Rutherford, remembers her area friends with a Christmas card that shows her growing sons, Michael, left, David and Peter, right — and their dog Midnight.... Carol was Miss Everything at East Rutherford Hig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beatrice Lillie
Beatrice Gladys Lillie, Lady Peel (29 May 1894 – 20 January 1989), known as Bea Lillie, was a Canadian-born British actress, singer and comedic performer. She began to perform as a child with her mother and sister. She made her West End debut in 1914 and soon gained notice in revues and light comedies, becoming known for her parodies of old-fashioned, flowery performing styles and absurd songs and sketches. She debuted in New York in 1924 and two years later starred in her first film, continuing to perform in both the US and UK. She was associated with revues staged by André Charlot and works of Noël Coward and Cole Porter, and frequently was paired with Gertrude Lawrence, Bert Lahr and Jack Haley. During World War II, Lillie was an inveterate entertainer of the troops. She won a Tony Award in 1953 for her revue ''An Evening with Beatrice Lillie''. Early life and career Lillie was born in Toronto to Irish-born John Lillie and his wife Lucie Ann (née Shaw).Morley, Sheridan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
