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Sandy Wilson
Alexander Galbraith "Sandy" Wilson (19 May 1924 – 27 August 2014) was an English composer and lyricist, best known for his musical '' The Boy Friend'' (1953). Biography Wilson was born in Sale, Cheshire, England, and was educated at Harrow School. In 1942 he won a State Scholarship for a wartime course at SOAS and was assigned to study Japanese. He was thus one of the so-called 'Dulwich Boys' who studied at SOAS and boarded at Dulwich College. While there he put together a satirical review titled 'A Matter of Course' based on his experiences on the Japanese course. He was one of the few not to complete the course and he subsequently served in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps in Great Britain, Egypt and Iraq. After the war he went to Oriel College, Oxford and while a student wrote revues for the Oxford University Experimental Theatre Club and then attended the Old Vic Theatre School on a production course. Most of his work for the stage was material for revues, such as Hermione ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Boy Friend (musical)
''The Boy Friend'' (sometimes misrepresented ''The Boyfriend'') is a musical by Sandy Wilson. Its original 1954 London production ran for 2,078 performances, briefly making it the third-longest running musical in West End or Broadway history (after '' Chu Chin Chow'' and ''Oklahoma!'') until they were all surpassed by '' Salad Days''. ''The Boy Friend'' marked Julie Andrews' American stage debut. Set in the carefree world of the French Riviera in the Roaring Twenties, ''The Boy Friend'' is a comic pastiche of 1920s shows, in particular early Rodgers and Hart musicals such as '' The Girl Friend''. Its relatively small cast and low cost of production makes it a continuing popular choice for amateur and student groups. Sandy Wilson wrote a sequel to ''The Boy Friend''. Set ten years later, and, appropriately, a pastiche of 1930s musicals, in particular those of Cole Porter, it was titled ''Divorce Me, Darling!'' and ran for 91 performances at London's old Globe Theatre in 1965 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oranges And Lemons (revue)
"Oranges and Lemons" is a traditional English nursery rhyme, folksong, and singing game which refers to the bells of several churches, all within or close to the City of London. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ... as No 13190. The earliest known printed version appeared c. 1744. The rhyme has been referenced in a variety of works of literature and popular culture. The bells of St Clement Danes (one of many London churches associated with the rhyme) play the tune every day at 9 am, noon, 3pm and 6pm. Lyrics Oranges and lemons, Say the bells of St Clement Danes, St. Clement's. You owe me five Farthing (British coin), farthings, Say the bells of St Martin-in-the-Fields, St. Martin's. When will you pay me? Say the bells a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taunton
Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the Bishops of Winchester. Parts of the inner ward house were turned into the Museum of Somerset and Somerset Military Museum. For the Second Cornish uprising of 1497, Perkin Warbeck brought an army of 6,000; most surrendered to Henry VII on 4 October 1497. On 20 June 1685 the Duke of Monmouth crowned himself King of England here in a rebellion, defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor. Judge Jeffreys led the Bloody Assizes in the Castle's Great Hall. The Grand Western Canal reached Taunton in 1839 and the Bristol and Exeter Railway in 1842. Today it hosts Musgrove Park Hospital, Somerset County Cricket Club, is the base of 40 Commando, Royal Marines, and is home to the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office on Admiralty Way. The popula ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sport .... It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust Limited, Scott Trust. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of ''The Guardian'' free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for ''The Guardian'' the same protections as were built into the structure of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyric Theatre (Hammersmith)
The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre on Lyric Square, off King Street, Hammersmith, London."About the Lyric" ''Lyric'' official website. Retrieved 9 May 2008. Background The Lyric Theatre was originally a music hall established in 1888 on Bradmore Grove, Hammersmith. Success as an entertainment venue led it to be rebuilt and enlarged on the same site twice, firstly in 1890 and then in 1895 by the English theatrical architect Frank Matcham. The 1895 reopening, as The New Lyric Opera House, was accompanied by an opening address by the famous actress . In 1966 the ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aladdin (1979 Musical)
''Aladdin'' is a musical written by Sandy Wilson for the newly refurbished Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. Although not a pantomime, it played during the theatre's inaugural Christmas pantomime season of 1979/80, opening on 21 December 1979, and starred Richard Freeman as Aladdin, Joe Melia as Tuang Kee Chung (Widow Twankey), Aubrey Woods as Abanazar, Ernest Clark as The Emperor, Martin McEvoy as The Genie, Elisabeth Welch as Fatima and Christine McKenna as Badr-al-Badur. Background The Aladdin story (sometimes combined with Ali Baba and other ''Arabian Nights'' tales) has been a traditional pantomime subject in England for nearly two hundred years, and numerous versions of this tale have been presented. Sandy Wilson was apparently asked to write a conventional pantomime in this tradition, but he demurred. "Instead of writing a pantomime – a form of theatre about which I know very little – I decided to make ''Aladdin'' a musical, and based it on the original story in the Arabian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Divorce Me, Darling!
''Divorce Me, Darling'' is a musical written by Sandy Wilson. Set 10 years after the events depicted in Wilson's much better-known '' The Boy Friend'', it is a pastiche of 1930s musicals (in particular those of Cole Porter) rather than the " Roaring Twenties" shows (mostly early Rodgers and Hart) that inspired the earlier work. Productions ''Divorce Me, Darling!'' was first presented at The Players' Theatre on December 9, 1964, where Wilson's ''The Boy Friend'' had first appeared. On 1 February 1965, it moved to the West End and ran for 91 performances at London's Globe Theatre. It had its U.S. premiere at the Arena Theatre, Theatre Under the Stars, Houston, Texas, in 1984. It played at the Chichester Festival Theatre in July 1997, featuring Ruthie Henshall as Polly. It is still occasionally revived at both an amateur and professional level, sometimes on a double-bill with ''The Boy Friend''. Synopsis Prologue The action takes place over two days in the summer of 1936 on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ronald Firbank
Arthur Annesley Ronald Firbank (17 January 1886 – 21 May 1926) was an innovative English novelist. His eight short novels, partly inspired by the London aesthetes of the 1890s, especially Oscar Wilde, consist largely of dialogue, with references to religion, social-climbing, and sexuality. Biography Arthur Annesley Ronald Firbank was born on 17 January 1886, in Clarges Street, Westminster, the son of a Member of Parliament, Sir Thomas Firbank, and Lady Firbank, née Harriet Jane Garrett. He had an older brother, Joseph Sydney (born 1884), a younger brother, Hubert Somerset (born 1887), and a sister, Heather (born 1888). At the age of ten Firbank went briefly to Uppingham School (September 1900 to April 1901) and then on to Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He converted to Roman Catholicism in 1907. In 1909 he left Cambridge without taking a degree. Living off his inheritance, he travelled around Spain, Italy, the Middle East, and North Africa. Openly gay and chronically shy, he was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valmouth (musical)
''Valmouth'' is a 1958 musical by Sandy Wilson based on the novel of the same name by Ronald Firbank. It premiered in London at the Lyric Hammersmith, before transferring to the Saville Theatre. The production was directed by Vida Hope. It made a star of Fenella Fielding as Lady Parvula de Panzoust. The musical has since been staged several times including twice at the Chichester Festival Theatre and several cast album recordings have been released. The musical has also been performed on BBC radio, first broadcast in 1975. Original cast *Captain Dick Thoroughfare - Alan L Edwards *Cardinal Pirelli - Geoffrey Dunn *Carry - Denise Hirst *David Tooke - Peter Gilmore *Dr Dee - Lewis Henry *Father Colley-Mahoney - Robert Bernal *Granny Tooke - Doris Hare *Lady Parvula de Panzoust - Fenella Fielding *Lady Saunter - Celia Helda *Lt. Jack Whorwood - Aubrey Woods *Madame Mimosa - Marcia Owen *Mrs Hurstpierpoint - Barbara Couper *Mrs Q. Comedy - Sally Alsford *Mrs Thoroughfare - Bett ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julie Andrews
Dame Julie Andrews (born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, three Grammy Awards and six Golden Globe Awards. She has also received three Tony Award nominations. Andrews was made a Disney Legend in 1991, and has been honoured with an Honorary Golden Lion, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2007, and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2022. In 2000, Andrews was made a dame by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the performing arts. Andrews, a child actress and singer, appeared in the West End in 1948 and made her Broadway debut in '' The Boy Friend'' (1954). Billed as "Britain's youngest prima donna", she rose to prominence starring in Broadway musicals such as '' My Fair Lady'' (1956) playing Eliza Doolittle and '' Camelot'' (1960) playin ... [...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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wyndhams Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by actor/manager Charles Wyndham (the other is the Criterion Theatre). Located on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, it was designed c.1898 by W. G. R. Sprague, the architect of six other London theatres between then and 1916. It was designed to seat 759 patrons on three levels; later refurbishment increased this to four seating levels. The theatre was Grade II* listed by English Heritage in September 1960. History Wyndham had always dreamed of building a theatre of his own, and through the admiration of a patron and the financial confidence of friends, he was able to realise his dream. Wyndham's Theatre opened on 16 November 1899, in the presence of the Prince of Wales. The first play performed there was a revival of T. W. Robertson's ''David Garrick''. A number of successes followed, including Lena Ashwell playing the lead role in '' Mrs Dane's Defence'' in 1900, upon which Wyndham said that “''th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
