Via Galactica
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Via Galactica
''Via Galactica'' is a rock musical with a book by Christopher Gore and Judith Ross, lyrics by Gore, and music by Galt MacDermot. It marked the Broadway debut of actor Mark Baker. Originally entitled ''Up!'', it offers a futuristic story of social outcasts living on an asteroid in the year 2972. Among them is Gabriel Finn, a space sanitation man who collects trash in a clamshell-shaped garbage ship called the Helen of Troy. The storyline was so incomprehensible that at the last moment producers decided to insert a plot synopsis in the ''Playbill'', but audiences were still baffled by what they were witnessing unfold on stage. Pyrotechnic displays and other special effects did little to enhance the project. After fifteen previews, the Broadway production, directed by Peter Hall, produced by George W. George and choreographed by George Faison, opened on November 28, 1972, the first production at the brand-new Uris Theatre where, unable to withstand a universal assault by the cri ...
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Galt MacDermot
Arthur Terence Galt MacDermot (December 18, 1928 – December 17, 2018) was a Canadian-American composer, pianist and writer of musical theater. He won a Grammy Award for the song " African Waltz" in 1960. His most-successful musicals were ''Hair'' (1967; its cast album also won a Grammy) and '' Two Gentlemen of Verona'' (1971). MacDermot also composed music for film soundtracks, jazz and funk albums, and classical music, and his music has been sampled in hit hip-hop songs and albums. He is best known for his work on ''Hair'', which produced three number-one singles in 1969: " Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In", "Good Morning Starshine", and the title song "Hair". Biography MacDermot was born in Montreal, the son of Canadian diplomat Terence MacDermot and Elizabeth Savage. He was educated at Upper Canada College and Bishop's University (Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada). He received a bachelor's degree in music from Cape Town University, South Africa, and made a study of African musi ...
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Raul Julia
Raúl Rafael Carlos Juliá y Arcelay (March 9, 1940 – October 24, 1994) was a Puerto Rican actor. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he took an interest in acting while still in school and pursued the career upon completion of his studies. After performing locally for some time, he was convinced by actor and entertainment personality Orson Bean to move and work in New York City. Juliá, who had been bilingual since his childhood, soon gained interest in Broadway and Off-Broadway plays. He took over the role of Orson in the Off-Broadway hit ''Your Own Thing'', a rock musical update of ''Twelfth Night''. He performed in mobile projects, including the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater. Juliá was eventually noticed by producer Joseph Papp, who offered him work in the New York Shakespeare Festival. After gaining visibility, he received roles in two television series, ''Love of Life'' and ''Sesame Street''. In 1978, he famously starred alongside Meryl Streep in an electric revival of Sh ...
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Musicals By Galt MacDermot
Arthur Terence Galt MacDermot (December 18, 1928 – December 17, 2018) was a Canadian-American composer, pianist and writer of musical theater. He won a Grammy Award for the song "African Waltz" in 1960. His most-successful musicals were ''Hair'' (1967; its cast album also won a Grammy) and ''Two Gentlemen of Verona'' (1971). MacDermot also composed music for film soundtracks, jazz and funk albums, and classical music, and his music has been sampled in hit hip-hop songs and albums. He is best known for his work on ''Hair'', which produced three number-one singles in 1969: "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In", "Good Morning Starshine", and the title song "Hair". Biography MacDermot was born in Montreal, the son of Canadian diplomat Terence MacDermot and Elizabeth Savage. He was educated at Upper Canada College and Bishop's University (Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada). He received a bachelor's degree in music from Cape Town University, South Africa, and made a study of African music hi ...
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Broadway Musicals
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 theatre, 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 (nam ...
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1972 Musicals
Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 197 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * February 19 – Battle of Lugdunum: Emperor Septimius Severus defeats the self-proclaimed emperor Clodius Albinus at Lugdunum (modern Lyon). Albinus commits suicide; legionaries sack the town. * Septimius Severus returns to Rome and has about 30 of Albinus's supporters in the Senate executed. After his victory he declares himself the adopted son of the late Marcus Aurelius. * Septimius Severus forms new naval units, manning all the triremes in Italy with heavily armed troops for war in the East. His soldiers embark on an ...
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The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ...
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Ken Mandelbaum
Ken Mandelbaum is a Jewish American columnist, critic, and author whose primary field of expertise is musical theatre. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Mandelbaum was introduced to Broadway musical theatre by his parents and grandparents at an early age. He initially pursued an acting career, studying with Stella Adler and performing at the Circle in the Square Theatre and the Provincetown Playhouse. In 1986, he began writing for ''Show Music Magazine'' and the ''New York Native'', and the following year he joined the staff of '' TheaterWeek''. He was a frequent contributor to ''Playbill'' and wrote a regular column for Broadway.com until 2006. Before his career as a theatre writer, he was a teacher in New York public schools. He is the author of ''A Chorus Line and the Musicals of Michael Bennett'' (St. Martin's Press, 1989, ) and ''Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops'' (St. Martin's Press, 1992, ). Both books are regarded to be important discussions ...
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Dude (musical)
''Dude (The Highway Life)'' is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. It is an allegory about good and evil, the conflict between mankind's creative and destructive urges, the power of love, and the joy to be found in simple pleasures. Dude is an Everyman who loses his innocence and fights to regain it. Background As soon as the musical '' Hair'' opened, Ragni began to work on ''Dude''. MacDermot was busy with '' Two Gentlemen of Verona'' but finally began to compose the music. In March 1972, their studio cast album, ''Salome Bey Sings Songs from Dude'', was recorded and released on Kilmarnock Records. The music was more influenced by country music than their previous musical, '' Hair''. The rehearsal period was plagued with problems: Kevin Geer, the actor who had been cast in the leading role, Dude, was unable to sing the role acceptably and had to be replaced; the script (such as it was) was far from finished; Ragni's requests ...
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Virginia Vestoff
Virginia Vestoff (December 9, 1939 – May 2, 1982) was an American actress of film, television and Broadway. Early life Vestoff was born into a family of vaudeville performers in New York City. Both her Russian immigrant father and mother, who was the great niece of American composer Stephen Foster, died and left Virginia an orphan at the age of nine. She coped with the loss by acting, and took third prize on ''The Ted Mack Amateur Hour'', which launched a professional career with the Children's Chorus of the New York City Opera. While living with relatives, Virginia attended the New York High School for the Performing Arts. At 15, she decided to move out and manage life on her own by attending Washington Irving High School and moonlighting as a salesgirl at a department store. However, Virginia quit school early to tour with a dance company. The failure to graduate remained a personal regret to Virginia throughout her life, which she countered with a thirst to self-educate ...
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Melanie Chartoff
Melanie Barbara Chartoff (born December 15, 1948) is an American actress and comedian. She first became famous for her comedy work on the ABC series '' Fridays'' (1980–82), and in the 1990s Fox sitcom ''Parker Lewis Can't Lose''. She voiced both Didi Pickles and Grandma Minka, Didi's mother on the Nickelodeon animated series ''Rugrats'' and '' All Grown Up!''. Early life Chartoff was born on December 15, 1948, in New Haven, Connecticut, and attended West Haven High School. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts from Adelphi University. She is Jewish. Career Her first Broadway appearances were in Galt MacDermot's space opera ''Via Galactica'' (1972), directed by Peter Hall, and The Young Vic's ''Scapino'', starring Jim Dale (1974). Chartoff's first TV role came in 1976 when she played a nurse on ''Search For Tomorrow'', after which appeared in the 1978 motion picture ''American Hot Wax''. She first became a nationally known figure on ABC's ''Fridays'', which was ABC's attempt t ...
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Ralph Carter
Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms are: * Ralph, the common variant form in English, which takes either of the given pronunciations. * Rafe, variant form which is less common; this spelling is always pronounced , as are all other English spellings without "l". * Raife, a very rare variant. * Raif, a very rare variant. Raif Rackstraw from H.M.S. Pinafore * Ralf, the traditional variant form in Dutch, German, Swedish, and Polish. * Ralfs, the traditional variant form in Latvian. * Raoul, the traditional variant form in French. * Raúl, the traditional variant form in Spanish. * Raul, the traditional variant form in Portuguese and Italian. * Raül, the traditional variant form in Catalan. * Rádhulbh, the traditional variant form in Irish. Given name Middle Ages * R ...
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Chuck Cissel
Charles Cissel (born October 3, 1948) is an American singer, dancer, director, choreographer and producer. He was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and graduated from Booker T. Washington High School. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Oklahoma, and was one of the first African Americans to graduate from the university's fine arts school. He was the CEO of the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame from 2000–2009 and is now the Artistic Director of the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, which is located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In his early 20s Chuck performed on Broadway in '' Hello Dolly'' with Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway, ''Purlie'', ''Lost in the Stars'', ''Via Galactica'', '' Don't Bother Me I Can't Cope'' and as an original member of the Broadway musical A Chorus Line, back when Broadway was starting to open up its doors to African American performers. While in A Chorus Line, Chuck recorded his first record, ''Swept Away'', produced by Michael Bennett, producer, director, and ch ...
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