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Larry Blank
Larry Blank is an American composer, arranger, orchestrator and conductor. He has worked in film, theatre and television, and has been nominated for a Tony Award three times. Early life and education Blank was born in Brooklyn, New York on July 15, 1952, and grew up in Bayside, Queens. He began piano lessons at 16 and gained experience by performing as a rehearsal pianist, playing and conducting at various summer-stock theaters and dinner theaters around the United States. Blank studied drama at the High School of Performing Arts, Manhattan. He was mentored by Don Pippin, Irwin Kostal and Ralph Burns. Blank later studied conducting with Rudi Bennett and piano with Leslie Harnley. Blank then moved to Los Angeles to continue his studies in orchestration and composition under Kostal. Career Conducting Along with Alfred Newman and Glen Roven, Blank was one of the youngest conductors in Broadway history. He first conducted on Broadway at the age of 22, leading the orchestra a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Definition The term is descended from Latin, ''compōnō''; literally "one who puts together". The earliest use of the term in a musical context given by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' is from Thomas Morley's 1597 ''A Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical Music'', where he says "Some wil be good descanters ..and yet wil be but bad composers". 'Composer' is a loose term that generally refers to any person who writes music. More specifically, it is often used to denote people who are composers by occupation, or those who in the tradition of Western classical music. Writers of exclusively or primarily songs may be called composers, but since the 20th century the terms 'songwriter' or ' singer-songwriter' are more often used, particul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donald Pippin (Broadway Director)
Donald Pippin (November 25, 1926 – June 9, 2022) was a Tony and Emmy Award-winning American theatre musical director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the d ... and orchestral conductor.''Time Steps: My Musical Comedy Life'' Donna McKechnie - 2006 - p245 "Donald Pippin was going to conduct the full orchestration and I was eager to have it all happen as well." References External links * * * 1926 births 2022 deaths Musicians from Macon, Georgia American male conductors (music) 20th-century American conductors (music) 21st-century American conductors (music) 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians Members of The Lambs Club {{US-musician-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ahmanson Theatre
The Ahmanson Theatre is one of the four main venues that compose the Los Angeles Music Center. History The theatre was built as a result of a donation from Howard F. Ahmanson Sr, the founder of H.F. Ahmanson & Co., an insurance and savings and loans company. It was named for his second wife, businesswoman and philanthropist Caroline Leonetti Ahmanson.David Wise, ''Tiger Trap: America's Secret Spy War with China'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011, p. 3/ref> Welton Becket, Welton Becket & Associates was the architect. Construction began on March 9, 1962 and was undertaken by Peter Kiewit & Sons (now Kiewit Corporation). The theatre's inaugural event was held on April 12, 1967, with the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Association sponsoring the national cast production of ''Man of La Mancha'', starring Richard Kiley and Joan Diener. The theatre also was the U.S. premiere of '' More Stately Mansions'' starring Ingrid Bergman, Arthur Hill, and Colleen Dewhurst, which opened Septemb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
''Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'' (often referred to simply as ''Sweeney Todd'') is a musical play with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler. It is based on the 1973 play of the same name by Christopher Bond. The character of Sweeney Todd first appeared in a Victorian penny dreadful titled ''The String of Pearls'' (1846-7). ''Sweeney Todd'' opened on Broadway in 1979 and in the West End in 1980. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical and Olivier Award for Best New Musical. It has been revived in many productions as well as inspiring a film adaptation. The original logo for the musical is a modified version of an advertising image from the 19th century, with the sign replaced by a straight razor. There is also a woman wearing a blood-stained dress and holding a rolling pin next to the man. Background The character Sweeney Todd originated in serialized Victorian popular fiction, known as penny dreadfuls. A story called ''The Str ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Copperfield (musical)
''Copperfield'' is a 1981 musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, who were nominated for the 1981 Tony Award for Best Original Score. It is based on the classic 1850 novel ''David Copperfield'' by Charles Dickens. The Broadway production was directed and choreographed by Rob Iscove. It began previews at the ANTA Playhouse on March 25, opened on April 16, and closed on April 26 after 39 performances, including 26 previews. Principal cast * Brian Matthews ..... Adult David * Evan Richards ..... Young David *Barrie Ingham ..... Uriah Heep * Beulah Garrick ..... Mrs. Heep * George S. Irving ..... Mr Micawber * Linda Poser ..... Mrs. Micawber * Mary Stout ..... Peggotty *Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio ..... Dora Spenlow * Christian Slater ..... Billy Mowcher * Lenny Wolpe ..... Mr. Dick * Carmen Mathews ..... Aunt Betsey Trotwood * Pamela McLernon ..... Clara Copperfield * Brian Quinn ..... Mealy Potatoes * Maris Clement ..... Jane Murdstone * Gary Munch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Onward Victoria
''Onward Victoria'' is a musical (1980) with a book and lyrics by Charlotte Anker and Irene Rosenberg, and music by Keith Herrmann. Its subject is Victoria Woodhull, the 19th-century woman who with her sister were the first women to operate a brokerage firm, at which they became millionaires, and started a newspaper. Production This musical originated in 1979 as ''Unescorted Women,'' first produced off-off-Broadway by the Joseph Jefferson Theatre Company. With its budget sets and costumes, anachronistic pop score, and camp burlesque-style production numbers (including one in which Woodhull sang the praises of Beecher's physical endowment) intact, headed uptown the following year rechristened ''Onward Victoria''. After twenty-three previews - and with its closing notice already in place - the Broadway production, directed by Julianne Boyd and choreographed by Michael Shawn, opened on December 14, 1980 at the Martin Beck Theatre, where it ran for one performance. A Broadway ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teddy & Alice
''Teddy & Alice'' is a musical with a book by Jerome Alden, lyrics by Hal Hackady, and music adapted from the work of John Philip Sousa, with some new songs by Richard Kapp. In its very early stages, Alan Jay Lerner contributed material before he died. The patriotic spectacle focuses on President Theodore Roosevelt's relationship with his feisty daughter during his reign in the White House. Stubbornly independent, Alice smokes, dresses provocatively, and speaks her mind about foreign policy issues in an era when modest young ladies are seen and not heard. Complications ensue when she begins a romantic relationship with considerably older Congressman Nicholas Longworth. Henry Cabot Lodge, Elihu Root, J. P. Morgan, Ida Tarbell, William Howard Taft, Samuel Gompers, and Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt are among the historical figures who make an appearance. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Phantom Of The Opera (1986 Musical)
''The Phantom of the Opera'' is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart, and a libretto by Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe. Based on the 1910 French novel of the same name by Gaston Leroux, it tells the story of a beautiful soprano, Christine Daaé, who becomes the obsession of a mysterious, masked musical genius living in the subterranean labyrinth beneath the Paris Opéra House. The musical opened in London's West End in 1986 and on Broadway in New York in 1988, in a production directed by Harold Prince and starring English classical soprano Sarah Brightman (Lloyd Webber's then-wife) as Christine Daaé, and Michael Crawford as the Phantom. It won the 1986 Olivier Award and the 1988 Tony Award for Best Musical, with Crawford winning the Olivier and Tony for Best Actor in a Musical. A film adaptation, directed by Joel Schumacher, was released in 2004. ''Phantom'' is currently the longest running show in Broadway history, and celebrated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Cage Aux Folles (musical)
''La Cage aux Folles'' () is a musical with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and a book by Harvey Fierstein. Based on the 1973 French play of the same name by Jean Poiret, it tells the story of a gay couple, Georges, the manager of a Saint-Tropez nightclub featuring drag entertainment, and Albin, his romantic partner and star attraction, and the farcical adventures that ensue when Georges's son, Jean-Michel, brings home his fiancée's ultra-conservative parents to meet them. ''La cage aux folles'' literally means "the cage of crazy women". However, ''folles'' is also a slang term for effeminate homosexuals (queens). Opening on Broadway in 1983 ''La Cage'' broke barriers for gay representation by becoming the first hit Broadway musical centered on a homosexual relationship. The show's Act One finale, " I Am What I Am", received praise as a "gay anthem" and has been widely recorded. The original production ran for more than four years (1,761 performances), and won six Tony Awards ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sugar Babies (musical)
''Sugar Babies'' is a musical revue conceived by Ralph G. Allen and Harry Rigby, with music by Jimmy McHugh, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and Al Dubin and various others. The show is a tribute to the old burlesque era. (The show's name is taken from one of many shows on the old Mutual Burlesque wheel of the Roaring Twenties.) First produced in 1979 on Broadway and running nearly three years, the revue attracted warm notices and was given subsequent touring productions. Productions ''Sugar Babies'' opened on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on October 8, 1979 and closed on August 28, 1982 after 1,208 performances. Staging and choreography was by Ernest Flatt, with sketches directed by Rudy Tronto, musically directed by Glen Roven, scenic and costume design by Raoul Pene Du Bois, lighting design by Gilbert Vaughn Hemsley Jr., vocal arrangements and lyrics by Arthur Malvin, additional vocal arrangements by Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane, and orchestrations by Dick Hyman. The rev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evita (musical)
''Evita'' is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. It concentrates on the life of Argentine political leader Eva Perón, the second wife of Argentine president Juan Perón. The story follows Evita's early life, rise to power, charity work, and death. The musical began as a rock opera concept album released in 1976. Its success led to productions in London's West End in 1978, winning the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical, and on Broadway a year later, where it was the first British musical to receive the Tony Award for Best Musical. This has been followed by a string of professional tours and worldwide productions and numerous cast albums, as well as a 1996 film adaptation. The musical was revived in London in 2006, and on Broadway in 2012, and toured the UK again in 2013–14 before running for 55 West End performances at the Dominion Theatre in September–October 2014. Synopsis Act I On 26 July 1952, a crowd in a Buenos Aires, Arge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
They're Playing Our Song
''They're Playing Our Song'' is a musical with a book by Neil Simon, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager, and music by Marvin Hamlisch. In a story based on the real-life relationship of Hamlisch and Sager, a wisecracking composer finds a new, offbeat lyricist, but initially the match is not one made in heaven. The two undergo a series of trials and overcome a number of hurdles before finding true love by the final curtain. ''They're Playing Our Song'' is essentially a two-character show. Vernon and Sonia are the sole characters on stage; each character has a three-person Greek chorus acting as their inner voices, and there are no big production numbers. Productions ;Broadway and West End Produced by Emanuel Azenberg, the musical had its world premiere at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in December 1978. The musical opened on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre on February 11, 1979, where it ran for 1,082 performances and 11 previews. Directed by Robert Moore and choreographed by Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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