Le monde des musicals

Leave It to Me! is a 1938 musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The book was a collaborative effort by Samuel and Bella Spewack, who also directed the Broadway production. The musical was based on the play Clear All Wires by the Spewacks, which was performed on Broadway for 93 performances in 1932, and which was filmed in 1933, starring Lee Tracy, Benita Hume, Una Merkel and James Gleason. Set in Stalinist Russia in the 1930s, with Stalin himself appearing at the end, in the Cold War era after World War II its comic treatment of Soviets and Nazis seemed misplaced, and the show was not revived until the late 1980s. Mary Martin made her Broadway debut in this musical, which introduced the songs "Get Out of Town" and "My Heart Belongs to Daddy."

Genèse: Productions The musical had pre-Broadway tryouts at the Shubert Theatre, New Haven, starting on October 13, 1938 and then at the Shubert Theatre, Boston, starting on October 17, 1938. It opened on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre on November 9, 1938 and closed on July 15, 1939 after 291 performances. It reopened on September 4, 1939 and closed September 16, 1939 for another 16 performances. The choreography was by Robert Alton, costumes by Raoul Pene du Bois, set by Albert Johnson, and Ernest K. Gann was the General Manager. The cast featured William Gaxton, Victor Moore, Sophie Tucker, Mary Martin, Tamara Drasin, and Alexander Asro. In his first Broadway show, Gene Kelly had a role as a dancer and Secretary to Mr. Goodhue. The original production ended with the appearance of Joseph Stalin, who led a final dance to the Soviet anthem The Internationale. After the signing of the Nazi-Soviet pact, Stalin was dropped from the show. The Equity Library Theater in New York City presented a revival of the show – the first time it was revived in the United States – in March 1988. The "Musicals Tonight!" series, New York City, held a staged concert in March 2001. 42nd Street Moon Theatre Company, San Francisco, presented the musical in November–December 2001.

Résumé: In the late 1930s, aging businessman Alonzo "Stinky" Goodhue has become the American ambassador to the Soviet Union. The job was secured for him by his social-climbing wife, Leora, who helped to fund Franklin Roosevelt's re-election campaign. However, "Stinky" has no desire to live in Stalinist Russia. He is longing for the pleasures of his home in Topeka, Kansas, especially banana splits. He hopes his tenure as ambassador will be a short one. Meanwhile, an ambitious newspaper reporter, Buckley J. "Buck" Thomas, is employed to discredit Goodhue by his publisher who wants to be the ambassador himself. When Thomas and Goodhue realise they both have the same aims, they work together. Goodhue plans to make major diplomatic gaffes, which will be publicised by Thomas. He delivers an inflammatory speech, but is hailed for his courage. He kicks the Ambassador of Nazi Germany, to the delight of the Soviets. He then attempts to shoot a Soviet official, but hits a counter-revolutionary aristocrat instead. Each time he ends up being hailed as a hero (in a parody of diplomatic speak, the British ambassador says "Britain views your deed [kicking the Nazi] with pride and alarm, congratulates and condemns you, and will now perform its breathtaking triple loop, suspended by a single wire, sitting in a tub of water."). His recall seems further away than ever. In a subplot, Buck Thomas is involved with his boss's "protégée", the free-spirited Dolly Winslow. He falls in love with Colette, one of Goodhue's daughters. He has to extract himself from Dolly to win Colette. Dolly eventually finds herself stranded at a railroad station in Siberia. She slowly takes off her furs to admirers as she sings of her flirtations, but insists "My Heart Belongs to Daddy", referring to her "sweet millionaire" sugar-daddy. The ambassador finally resolves to give up his tricks and tries to promote good relations between the United States and the Soviet Union; however his sincere attempts to improve matters now go disastrously wrong. He finally gets his wish to be recalled back to Topeka.

Création: 9/11/1938 - Imperial Theatre (Broadway) - 291 représ.

Kiss Me, Kate est un musical écrit par Bella et Samuel Spewack avec la musique et les paroles de Cole Porter. L'histoire suit la production d'une version musicale de The Taming of the Shrew (La Mégère apprivoisée) de William Shakespeare et le conflit qui en découle - sur et hors scène - entre Fred Graham, le metteur en scène, producteur et star du spectacle, et la first lady, son ex-femme Lilli Vanessi. Une histoire d'amour secondaire concerne Lois Lane, l'actrice qui joue Bianca, et son petit ami, le joueur Bill, qui est confronté à des gangsters. La production originale mettait en vedette Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk et Harold Lang. Kiss Me, Kate était la réponse de Porter à Oklahoma! () de Rodgers et Hammerstein et autres musicals intégrés; c'était le premier spectacle qu'il écrivait dans lequel la musique et les paroles étaient fermement liées au scénario. Le musical a été créé en 1948 et s'est avéré être le seul spectacle de Porter à avoir été présenté plus de 1.000 fois à Broadway .

Genèse:

Résumé: An egotistical actor and producer named Fred Graham and his ex-wife, Lili Vanessi, are playing Petruchio and Kate in a production of "Taming of the Shrew." In both the real world and in the play, they bicker and romance in a "battle of the sexes."

Création: 30/12/1948 - New Century Theatre (Broadway) - 1077 représ.

Genèse: The Broadway-bound production, directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, opened on March 11, 1965 at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit. The cast included Alfred Marks, Phyllis Newman, and John McMartin. The musical closed out-of-town and was not produced on Broadway.[2] The Detroit Press described it as "lesser Loesser," the Detroit Free Press said of it, "It's a Rolls-Royce of a show, a magnificent combination of artful scenery, lively choreography, and engaging people. But there's no gas in the Rolls-Royce tank," and Variety called it "disappointing." Cy Feuer and Abe Burrows were called in to help with revisions,[3]and Fosse was willing to invest his own money in order to get the production to Boston, but after its closing on April 10, Loesser cancelled the rest of the tryout tour and the New York City opening. The show was revived by the Lyric Stage of Irving, Texas in January 2013.

Résumé: Russia's aging Empress, Catherine the Great, makes a grand tour of the Crimea in 1788 arranged by her uncertain lover, Field Marshal Governor General Potemkin. Catherine engages American Revolutionary War naval hero Captain John Paul Jones to lead the Russian fleet in the Black Sea against the Turks. Aware that Catherine is attracted to Scotsman Jones, jealous Potemkin uses all his intrigue and wiles to discredit the former American hero. Nymphomaniac Sura, one of Potemkin's "nieces," makes her own Russian assault on John Paul Jones, getting him drunk and into her boudoir. But Presbyterian Jones' Calvinistic lecturing dissuades sexpot Sura for a brief reformation. Potemkin's fear of becoming just another of the Empress's discarded lovers is, temporarily, calmed and he is reinstated in Catherine's favor.

Création: 11/3/1965 - * Jamais ouvert () - 0 représ.