|
May Wine (musical)
''May Wine'' is a musical with a book by Frank Mandel, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and music by Sigmund Romberg. The show was adapted from the novel ''The Happy Alienist'' by Eric von Stroheim and Wallace Smith. The story concerns the rich and absent-minded psychology professor, Johann Volk, who falls in love with Marie (Baroness von Schlewitz). The malevolent Baron Kuno Adelhorst, who also loves Marie, tries to get the professor's money by having Marie marry him, but after they are married she comes to love the professor and does not want to blackmail him. However, the Professor thinks he has been deceived and tries to shoot Marie. He does not hurt her, and all ends well. The subplot involves an artist's model, Friedl, who wants a man's attention and gets it from the Baron. The Broadway production opened on December 5, 1935 at the St. James Theatre, where it ran for a modestly successful 213 performances despite the reservations of reviewers about the book. Romberg's Vienne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sigmund Romberg
Sigmund Romberg (July 29, 1887 – November 9, 1951) was a Hungarian-born American composer. He is best known for his musicals and operettas, particularly ''The Student Prince'' (1924), ''The Desert Song'' (1926) and ''The New Moon'' (1928). Early in his career, Romberg was employed by the Shubert brothers to write music for their musicals and revues, including several vehicles for Al Jolson. For the Shuberts, he also adapted several European operettas for American audiences, including the successful '' Maytime'' (1917) and '' Blossom Time'' (1921). His three hit operettas of the mid-1920s, named above, are in the style of Viennese operetta, but his other works from that time mostly employ the style of American musicals of their eras. He also composed film scores. Biography Romberg was born in Hungary as Siegmund Rosenberg to a Jewish [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oscar Hammerstein, II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) director in the musical theater for almost 40 years. He won eight Tony Awards and two Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Many of his songs are standard repertoire for vocalists and jazz musicians. He co-wrote 850 songs. He is best known for his collaborations with composer Richard Rodgers, as the duo Rodgers and Hammerstein, whose musicals include '' Oklahoma!'', ''Carousel'', ''South Pacific'', ''The King and I'', and ''The Sound of Music''. Described by Stephen Sondheim as an "experimental playwright", Hammerstein helped bring the American musical to new maturity by popularizing musicals that focused on stories and character rather than the lighthearted entertainment that the musical had been known for beforehand. He also collaborated with Jerome Kern (with whom he wrote '' Show Boat''), Vincent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Mandel
Frank Mandel (1884 – April 20, 1958) was an American playwright and producer. He co-wrote several productions. Some of his works were adapted by others. Several of his collaborations were adapted into films. UCLA's libraries have a collection of his papers. He was born Frank Armand Mandel in San Francisco. He attended the University of California where he was interested in the public speaking society, the Student's Congress and debating team, as well as being active in the Glee Club, along with Richard Walton Tully. H graduated in 1904 with a Bachelor of Letters degree then enteres Hastings Law School. After his education he started selling suits with his father, working in real estate, and writing plays. When real estate took a dive after the 1905 earthquake and fire he got together $5,000 and headed East to write plays. After writing ''No, No, Nanette'', he formed the production team of Schwab and Mandel with Laurence Schwab. They produced works such as ''Follow Thru'', '' Go ... [...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] |
Musical Theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals. Although music has been a part of dramatic presentations since ancient times, modern Western musical theatre emerged during the 19th century, with many structural elements established by the works of Gilbert and Sullivan in Britain and those of Harrigan and Hart in America. These were followed by the numerous Edwardian musical comedies and the musical theatre w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) director in the musical theater for almost 40 years. He won eight Tony Awards and two Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Many of his songs are standard repertoire for vocalists and jazz musicians. He co-wrote 850 songs. He is best known for his collaborations with composer Richard Rodgers, as the duo Rodgers and Hammerstein, whose musicals include ''Oklahoma!'', '' Carousel'', '' South Pacific'', ''The King and I'', and ''The Sound of Music''. Described by Stephen Sondheim as an "experimental playwright", Hammerstein helped bring the American musical to new maturity by popularizing musicals that focused on stories and character rather than the lighthearted entertainment that the musical had been known for beforehand. He also collaborated with Jerome Kern (with whom he wrote ''Show Boat''), Vincent Y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Von Stroheim
Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim; September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian-American director, actor and producer, most noted as a film star and avant-garde, visionary director of the silent era. His 1924 film ''Greed'' (an adaptation of Frank Norris's 1899 novel ''McTeague'') is considered one of the finest and most important films ever made. After clashes with Hollywood studio bosses over budget and workers' rights problems, Stroheim found it difficult to find work as a director and subsequently became a well-respected character actor, particularly in French cinema. For his early innovations as a director, Stroheim is still celebrated as one of the first of the auteur directors.Obituary ''Variety'', May 15, 1957, page 75. He helped introduce more sophisticated plots and noirish sexual and psychological undercurrents into cinema. He died of prostate cancer in France in 1957, at the age of 71. Beloved by Parisian neo- Surrealists kn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Slezak
Walter Slezak (; 3 May 1902 – 21 April 1983) was an Austrian-born film and stage actor active between 1922 and 1976. He mainly appeared in German films before migrating to the United States in 1930 and performing in numerous Hollywood productions. Slezak typically portrayed wily and loquacious characters, often philosophical, and often with a taste for food, drink, and fine living. He played a crafty villain as a U-boat captain in Alfred Hitchcock's film ''Lifeboat'' (1944), a charming, two-timing major domo to a tycoon in ''Come September'' (1961), and a wandering gypsy in '' The Inspector General'' (1949). He stood out as shrewd, unscrupulous private investigators in film noir, as in '' Cornered'' (1945) and ''Born to Kill'' (1947). Early life Slezak was born in Vienna, the son of opera tenor Leo Slezak and Elisabeth "Elsa" Wertheim. He studied medicine for a time and later worked as a bank teller. His older sister Margarete Slezak was also an actress. Career Slezak was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nancy McCord
Nancy McCord (died July 8, 1974, Arcadia, California) was an American soprano and actress who had an active career in opera, musical theatre, and vaudeville during the 1920s, 1930s and early 1940s. She appeared in operettas and musicals on Broadway and in operas with several American companies, including the St. Louis Municipal Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. Her repertoire consisted mainly of roles from light opera and operettas. She is best remembered for creating the roles of Marie-Baroness von Schlewitz in the original production of Oscar Hammerstein II and Sigmund Romberg's ''May Wine'' (1935); and Mary Stone in the world premiere of Douglas Moore's ''The Devil and Daniel Webster'' (1939). She also performed leading roles in the United States premieres of two operettas: Franz Lehár's ''The Land of Smiles'' (1933, Boston) and Robert Stolz's ''Venus in Seide'' (1935, Saint Louis). Career A native of Long Island, New York, McCord studied singing with Marcella Sembrich a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Betty Allen
Betty Allen (March 17, 1927 – June 22, 2009) was an American operatic mezzo-soprano who had an active international singing career during the 1950s through the 1970s. In the latter part of her career her voice acquired a contralto-like darkening, which can be heard on her recording of Sergei Prokofiev’s ''Alexander Nevsky'' with conductor Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. She was known for her collaborations with American composers, such as Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, David Diamond, Ned Rorem, and Virgil Thomson among others. Allen was part of the first generation of black opera singers to achieve wide success and is viewed as part of an instrumental group of performers who helped break down the barriers of racial prejudice in the opera world. She was greatly admired by Bernstein and the conductor notably chose her to be the featured soloist for his final performances as music director of the New York Philharmonic in 1973. After her singing career ended, sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Woolf King
Walter Woolf King (November 2, 1899 – October 24, 1984) was an American film, television and stage actor and singer. Born in San Francisco, California in 1899, King started singing for a living at a young age and performed mostly in churches. He made his Broadway debut in 1919, and became a well-known baritone in operettas and musical comedies. King billed himself as Walter Woolf and Walter King early in his career, eventually settling on a combination of all three names in the mid-1930s. In 1936, King was host of the ''Flying Red Horse Tavern'' on CBS radio.Sies, Luther F. (2014). ''Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 234. King began his film career in musicals but quickly moved into supporting roles. He is probably best remembered today for his villainous roles in two films starring the Marx Brothers: '' A Night at the Opera'' (1935) and '' Go West'' (1940). He also appeared with Laurel & Hardy in '' Swiss Miss'' (1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Walker (orchestrator)
Don Walker (October 28, 1907 – September 12, 1989) was a prolific Broadway orchestrator, who also composed music for musicals and one film and worked as a conductor in television. Biography Walker was born in Lambertville, New Jersey. He attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Audrey, had a daughter, Anne Liebgold, and a son, David. Walker died in New Hope, Pennsylvania in 1989 at the age of 81.Shepard, Richard F"Don Walker, 81, an Orchestrator Of Broadway Musical Comedies" ''The New York Times'', September 13, 1989, accessed July 20, 2009 Career As with many of the other great orchestrators, Walker served a long apprenticeship with Max Dreyfus at Chappell Music's arranging department starting in the 1930s, until he finally went out in business for himself in the early 1950s setting up office in New York City. Among the scores that he orchestrated were those for the popular musicals ''Carousel'', ''Finian's Rainbow'', ''Call Me Madam' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
