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Harvey Schmidt
Harvey Lester Schmidt (September 12, 1929 – February 28, 2018) was an American composer for musical theatre and illustrator. He was best known for composing the music for the longest running musical in history, ''The Fantasticks'', which ran off-Broadway for 42 years, from 1960 to 2002. Biography Schmidt was born in Dallas, Texas. He attended the University of Texas to study art, but when he met Tom Jones at the university, he started to accompany the drama student on the piano. They soon started writing musicals together, the first being a revue. However, after serving in the Army, Schmidt moved to New York and worked as a graphic artist for NBC Television and later as an illustrator for ''Life'', ''Harper's Bazaar'', ''Sports Illustrated'', and ''Fortune''. All of Schmidt's major musicals were written with lyricist Tom Jones. The duo is best-known for the musical ''The Fantasticks'', which ran for 42 years off-Broadway, from 1960 to 2002 for a total of 17,162 performances. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dallas, Texas
Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County with portions extending into Collin, Denton, Kaufman and Rockwall counties. With a 2020 census population of 1,304,379, it is the ninth most-populous city in the U.S. and the third-largest in Texas after Houston and San Antonio. Located in the North Texas region, the city of Dallas is the main core of the largest metropolitan area in the Southern United States and the largest inland metropolitan area in the U.S. that lacks any navigable link to the sea. The cities of Dallas and nearby Fort Worth were initially developed due to the construction of major railroad lines through the area allowing access to cotton, cattle and later oil in North and East Texas. The construction of the Interstate Highway System reinforced Dallas's prominen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in Midtown Manhattan. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances. One is also given for regional theatre. Several discretionary non-competitive awards are given as well, including a Special Tony Award, the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, and the Isabelle Stevenson Award. The awards were founded by theatre producer and director Brock Pemberton and are named after Antoinette "Tony" Perry, an actress, producer and theatre director who was co-founder and secretary of the American Theatre Wing. The trophy consists of a spinnable medallion, with faces portraying an adaptation of the comedy and tragedy masks, mounted on a black base with a pewter swivel. The rules for the Tony Awards are set forth in the off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peggy Lee
Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, over a career spanning seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, Lee created a sophisticated persona, writing music for films, acting, and recording conceptual record albums combining poetry and music. Called the "Queen of American pop music," Lee recorded over 1,100 masters and composed over 270 songs. Early life Lee was born Norma Deloris Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota, United States, on May 26, 1920, the seventh of the eight children of Selma Emele (née Anderson) Egstrom and Marvin Olaf Egstrom, a station agent for the Midland Continental Railroad. Her family were Lutherans. Her father was Swedish-American and her mother was Norwegian-American. After her mother died when Lee was four, her father married Minnie Schaumberg Wiese. Lee an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Try To Remember
"Try to Remember" is a song about nostalgia from the musical comedy play ''The Fantasticks'' (1960). It is the first song performed in the show, encouraging the audience to imagine what the sparse set suggests. The words were written by the American lyricist Tom Jones while Harvey Schmidt composed the music. Popular charts and early recordings "Try to Remember" was sung by Jerry Orbach for the original off-Broadway production of ''The Fantasticks''. "Try to Remember" scored the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 popular music chart three times during 1965, with versions by Ed Ames, Roger Williams and Barry McGuire. The song was the first Australian success for the trio New World. Their version peaked at no. 11 during late 1968. In 1975, Gladys Knight & the Pips had an international success with their version of "Try to Remember", combining it into a medley with a cover version of Barbra Streisand's "The Way We Were". It scored no. 11 on the US Hot 100 chart, and no. 4 in the UK (their b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soon It's Gonna Rain
"Soon It's Gonna Rain" is a song from the musical comedy ''The Fantasticks'', with lyrics written by Tom Jones, and music composed by Harvey Schmidt. Background The song was first sung by Rita Gardner and Kenneth Nelson in the original Off Broadway production of ''The Fantasticks''. Other performers from the long-running Off-Broadway production of the show to sing the song include Kristin Chenoweth, American Idol finalist Anthony Fedorov and winner of the thirteenth season of The Amazing Race, Nick Spangler. In the Hallmark Hall of Fame broadcast on October 18, 1964, the song was performed by John Davidson and Susan Watson. We Five did a version of the song on their 1969 album, ''The Return of We Five.'' In the 1995 film version of ''The Fantasticks'', the song was performed by Joey McIntyre and Jean Louisa Kelly. Other Recordings *Barbra Streisand recorded the song for her debut solo album ''The Barbra Streisand Album'' in 1963. *Tony Bennett - included on his album '' The Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Barbra Streisand Album
''The Barbra Streisand Album'' is the debut album by Barbra Streisand, released February 25, 1963, on Columbia Records, catalogue CL 2007 in mono and CS 8807 in stereo. It peaked at #8 on the Billboard pop albums chart, and has been certified a gold album by the RIAA. By 1966, the album had sold over one million copies worldwide. The album won Grammy awards for Album of the Year and Best Female Vocal Performance. In January 2006, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Background Columbia label president Goddard Lieberson initially resisted signing Streisand to a contract, finding her style too close to the cabaret singers he disliked and too far from the understated approach of Jo Stafford or Rosemary Clooney, who recorded for the label in the 1950s. Lieberson relented and agreed to sign her. Nearly three decades later Streisand said: The most important thing about that first contract – actually, the thing we held out for – was a unique clause giving me the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List of people who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards, awarded an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony (EGOT). Streisand began her career by performing in nightclubs and Broadway theaters in the early 1960s. Following her guest appearances on various television shows, she signed to Columbia Records, insisting that she retain full artistic control, and accepting lower pay in exchange, an arrangement that continued throughout her career, and released her debut ''The Barbra Streisand Album'' (1963), which won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Throughout her recording career, Streisand has topped the US Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200 chart with 11 albums—a record for a woman—including ''People (Barbra Streisand album), People'' (1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Our Town
''Our Town'' is a 1938 metatheatrical three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play tells the story of the fictional American small town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 through the everyday lives of its citizens. Throughout, Wilder uses metatheatrical devices, setting the play in the actual theatre where it is being performed. The main character is the stage manager of the theatre who directly addresses the audience, brings in guest lecturers, fields questions from the audience, and fills in playing some of the roles. The play is performed without a set on a mostly bare stage. With a few exceptions, the actors mime actions without the use of props. ''Our Town'' was first performed at McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1938. It later went on to success on Broadway and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Described by Edward Albee as "the greatest American play ever written", the play remains popular ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' — and a U.S. National Book Award for the novel '' The Eighth Day''. Early years and family Wilder was born in Madison, Wisconsin, the son of Amos Parker Wilder, a newspaper editor and later a U.S. diplomat, and Isabella Thornton Niven. Wilder had four siblings as well as a twin who was stillborn. All of the surviving Wilder children spent part of their childhood in China when their father was stationed in Hong Kong and Shanghai as U.S. Consul General. Thornton's older brother, Amos Niven Wilder, became Hollis Professor of Divinity at the Harvard Divinity School. He was a noted poet and was instrumental in developing the field of theopoetics. Their sister Isabel Wilder was an accomplished writer. They had two more sisters, Charlotte Wilder, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Preston (actor)
Robert Preston Meservey (June 8, 1918 – March 21, 1987) was an American stage and film actor and singer of Broadway and cinema, best known for his collaboration with composer Meredith Willson and originating the role of Professor Harold Hill in the 1957 musical ''The Music Man'' and the 1962 film adaptation; the film earned him his first of two Golden Globe Award nominations. Preston collaborated twice with filmmaker Blake Edwards, first in '' S.O.B.'' (1981) and again in ''Victor/Victoria'' (1982). For portraying Carroll "Toddy" Todd in the latter, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 55th Academy Awards. Early life Preston was born Robert Preston Meservey in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Ruth L. (née Rea) (1895–1973) and Frank Wesley Meservey (1899–1996), a garment worker and a billing clerk for American Express. After attending Abraham Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, he studied acting at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Martin
Mary Virginia Martin (December 1, 1913 – November 3, 1990) was an American actress and singer. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading roles on stage over her career, including Nellie Forbush in '' South Pacific'' (1949), the title character in ''Peter Pan'' (1954), and Maria von Trapp in ''The Sound of Music'' (1959). She was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989. She was the mother of actor Larry Hagman. Early life Martin was born in Weatherford, Texas. Her autobiography described her childhood as secure and happy. She had close relationships with both of her parents as well as her siblings. As a young actress Martin had an instinctive ear for recreating musical sounds. Martin's father, Preston Martin, was a lawyer, and her mother, Juanita Presley, was a violin teacher. Although the doctors told Juanita that she would risk her life if she attempted to have another baby, she was determined to have a boy. Instead, she had Mary, who later obliged by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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