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John Lee Beatty
John Lee Beatty is an American scenic designer who has created set designs for more than 115 Broadway shows and has designed for other productions. He won two Tony Awards, for ''Talley's Folly'' (1980) and ''The Nance'' (2013), was nominated for 13 more, and he won five Drama Desk Awards and was nominated for 10 others. Life and career Beatty was born in Palo Alto, California and grew up in Claremont, California, Claremont. His father was dean of students at Pomona College and his mother had also worked in academia.Rothstein, Mervyn"A Life in the Theatre: John Lee Beatty" playbill.com, October 23, 2008 While he was an English major at Brown University, he also directed, wrote, acted, designed sets and costumes, and silkscreened posters for college productions. After graduating from Brown, he entered the Yale School of Drama where he was trained by Ming Cho Lee, and scenic artist Arnold Abramson; as well as by visiting lecturers Donald Oenslager, Jo Mielziner, and Boris Aronson. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Awards
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 in the United States, 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 Perry, 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. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heartbreak House
''Heartbreak House: A Fantasia in the Russian Manner on English Themes'' is a play written by George Bernard Shaw, first published in 1919 and first played at the Garrick Theatre in November 1920. According to A. C. Ward, the work argues that "cultured, leisured Europe" was drifting toward destruction, and that "Those in a position to guide Europe to safety failed to learn their proper business of political navigation". The "Russian manner" of the subtitle refers to the style of Anton Chekhov, which Shaw adapts. Characters *Ellie Dunn *Nurse Guinness *Captain Shotover *Lady Utterword *Hesione Hushabye *Mazzini Dunn *Hector Hushabye *Boss Alfred Mangan *Randall Utterword *Burglar (Billy Dunn) Plot summary Ellie Dunn, her father, and her fiancé are invited to one of Hesione Hushabye’s infamous dinner parties, to be held at the house of her father, the eccentric Captain Shotover, an inventor in his late eighties who is trying to create a "psychic ray" that will destroy dynamite. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ivanov (play)
''Ivanov'' (russian: Иванов: драма в четырёх действиях, italic=yes (Ivanov: drama in four acts); also translated as "Ivanoff") is a four-act drama by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. ''Ivanov'' was first performed in 1887, when Fiodor Korsh, owner of the Korsh Theatre in Moscow, commissioned Chekhov to write a comedy. Chekhov, however, responded with a four-act drama, which he wrote in ten days. The first performance was not a success and the production disgusted Chekhov himself. In a letter to his brother, he wrote that he "did not recognise his first remarks as my own" and that the actors "do not know their parts and talk nonsense". Irritated by this failure, Chekhov made alterations to the play. Consequently, the final version is different from that first performance. After this revision, it was accepted to be performed in St. Petersburg in 1889. Chekhov's revised version was a success and offered a foretaste of the style and themes of his subse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Footloose (musical)
''Footloose'' is a 1998 musical based on the 1984 film of the same name. The music is by Tom Snow (among others), the lyrics by Dean Pitchford (with additional lyrics by Kenny Loggins), and the book by Pitchford and Walter Bobbie. Plot Act 1 ("Footloose/On any Sunday") Ren McCormack, an ordinary city teenager, is in a dance club in Chicago, dancing off his stresses bored of his long and arduous eight-hour work day. But this is his last visit; he tells his friends that due to financial pressures brought on by his father's abandonment, he and his mother Ethel are moving to a small town in the middle of nowhere named Bomont (much to the chagrin of his friends, who gripe, "Bomont?! Where the hell is Bomont?!"), where his aunt and uncle have offered them a place to stay. Once there, Ren and Ethel attend church and get their first glimpse of the minister Shaw Moore, a conservative minister who is a big authority figure in the town. After a long sermon lambasting the evils of "rock and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proof (play)
''Proof'' is a 2000 play by the American playwright David Auburn. ''Proof'' was developed at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey, during the 1999 Next Stage Series of new plays. The play premiered Off-Broadway in May 2000 and transferred to Broadway in October 2000. The play won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. Plot The play concerns Catherine, the daughter of Robert, a recently deceased mathematical genius in his fifties and professor at the University of Chicago, and her struggle with mathematical genius and mental illness. Catherine had cared for her father through a lengthy mental illness. Upon Robert's death, his ex-graduate student Hal discovers a paradigm-shifting proof about prime numbers in Robert's office. The title refers both to that proof and to the play's central question: Can Catherine prove the proof's authorship? Along with demonstrating the proof's authenticity, Catherine also finds herself in a relationship w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morning's At Seven
''Morning's at Seven'' is a play by Paul Osborn. Its plot focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern town in 1928, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question their lives and decide to make some changes before it’s too late. The original Broadway production, directed by Joshua Logan, opened on November 30, 1939, at the Longacre Theatre, where it ran for 44 performances. Director Logan chose to set it in 1938, which at the end of the Depression and the beginning of World War II seemed to make it less palatable to the audiences of that time. The cast included Dorothy Gish, Jean Adair, Enid Markey, and Kate McComb. After 16 previews, the first Broadway revival, directed by Vivian Matalon, opened on April 10, 1980, at the Lyceum Theatre. The cast included Nancy Marchand, Maureen O'Sullivan, Elizabeth Wilson, Teresa Wright, Lois de Banzie, and David Rounds. This production, set back to its original 1920s period, was a great ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dinner At Eight (play)
''Dinner at Eight'' is a 1932 American play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. The plot deals with the Jordan family, who are planning a society dinner, and what they, as well as various friends and acquaintances—all of whom have their own problems and ambitions‚ do as they prepare for the event. The film adaptation '' Dinner at Eight'' followed and Mentone Productions released the spoof '' Supper at Six''. Several revivals, a made-for-TV movie, and an opera followed. 1932 Broadway production ''Dinner at Eight'', a three act Broadway play, opened October 22, 1932, at the Music Box Theatre, and closed May 6, 1933 after 232 performances. The play was produced by Sam H. Harris, staged by George S. Kaufman; Assistant Director: Robert B. Sinclair. To date the original 1932 Broadway production of ''Dinner at Eight'' has had the longest run with 232 performances vs. the 1933, 1966 and 2002 revivals with 218, 127 and 45 performances, respectively. Main cast: * Ann Andrews as M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wonderful Town
''Wonderful Town'' is a 1953 musical with book written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and music by Leonard Bernstein. The musical tells the story of two sisters who aspire to be a writer and actress respectively, seeking success from their basement apartment in New York City's Greenwich Village. It is based on Fields and Chodorov's 1940 play ''My Sister Eileen'', which in turn originated from autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney first published in ''The New Yorker'' in the late 1930s and later published in book form as ''My Sister Eileen''. Only the last two stories in McKenney's book were used, and they were heavily modified. After a pre-Broadway try-out at the Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia, ''Wonderful Town'' premiered on Broadway in 1953, starring Rosalind Russell in the role of Ruth Sherwood, Edie Adams as Eileen Sherwood, and George Gaynes as Robert Baker. It won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Twentieth Century (play)
''Twentieth Century'' is a 1932 play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur based on the unproduced play ''Napoleon of Broadway'' by Charles B. Millholland, inspired by his experience working for the eccentric Broadway impresario David Belasco. Synopsis The Hecht-MacArthur comedy is set in the observation car of the '' 20th Century Limited'', travelling from Chicago to New York's Grand Central Terminal. Aboard the luxury train are egomaniacal theatre producer Oscar Jaffe, desperately in need of a hit, and his former paramour and protégé, temperamental actress Lily Garland (born Mildred Plotka), who abandoned him for a Hollywood career. Oscar is determined to sign her for his new show, and Lily is just as determined to ignore his advances, both professional and personal. Productions The first Broadway production, directed by George Abbott, opened on December 29, 1932 at the Broadhurst Theatre, where it ran for 152 performances. Moffat Johnston and Eugenie Leontovich were the stars, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?
''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' is a play by Edward Albee first staged in October 1962. It examines the complexities of the marriage of a middle-aged couple, Martha and George. Late one evening, after a university faculty party, they receive an unwitting younger couple, Nick and Honey, as guests, and draw them into their bitter and frustrated relationship. The play is in three acts, normally taking a little less than three hours to perform, with two 10-minute intermissions. The title is a pun on the song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" from Walt Disney's ''Three Little Pigs'' (1933), substituting the name of the celebrated English author Virginia Woolf. Martha and George repeatedly sing this version of the song throughout the play. ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' won both the 1963 Tony Award for Best Play and the 1962–63 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play. It is frequently revived on the modern stage. The film adaptation was released in 1966, writte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doubt (play)
''Doubt, A Parable'' is a 2004 play by John Patrick Shanley. Originally staged off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club on November 23, 2004, the production transferred to the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway in March 2005 and closed on July 2, 2006, after 525 performances and 25 previews. The play won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. In 2008, the play was adapted as a feature film entitled ''Doubt''. It starred Meryl Streep as Sister Aloysius and Philip Seymour Hoffman as Father Flynn. It was nominated for several Academy Awards. Plot The play is set in the fictional St. Nicholas Church School, in the Bronx, during the fall of 1964. It opens with a sermon by Father Flynn, a beloved and progressive parish priest, addressing the importance of uncertainty ("Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty," he says). The school's principal, Sister Aloysius, a rigidly conservative nun vowed to the order of the Sisters of Charity, insists ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Odd Couple (play)
''The Odd Couple'' is a Play (theatre), play by Neil Simon. Following its premiere on Broadway theatre, Broadway in 1965, the characters were revived in a successful The Odd Couple (film), 1968 film and The Odd Couple (1970 TV series), 1970s television series, as well as several other derivative works and spin-offs. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates: the neat, uptight Felix Ungar and the slovenly, easygoing Oscar Madison. Simon adapted the play in 1985 to feature a pair of female roommates (Florence Ungar and Olive Madison) in ''The Female Odd Couple''. An updated version of the 1965 show appeared in 2002 with the title ''Oscar and Felix: A New Look at the Odd Couple''. History Sources vary as to the origins of the play. In ''The Washington Post''s obituary of Simon's brother Danny Simon, Danny, a television writer, Adam Bernstein wrote that the idea for the play came from his divorce. "Mr. Simon had moved in with a newly single theatrical agent named Roy Gerber in Hol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
