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Brigadoon
''Brigadoon'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, and music by Frederick Loewe. The song " Almost Like Being in Love", from the musical, has become a standard. It features two American tourists who stumble upon Brigadoon, a mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every 100 years. Tommy, one of the tourists, falls in love with Fiona, a young woman from Brigadoon. The original production opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway in 1947 and ran for 581 performances. It starred David Brooks, Marion Bell, Pamela Britton, and Lee Sullivan. In 1949, ''Brigadoon'' opened at Her Majesty's Theatre in the West End and ran for 685 performances; many revivals have followed. A 1954 film version starred Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse, and a 1966 television version starred Robert Goulet and Peter Falk. Background Lyricist and book writer Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe had previously collaborated on three musicals; the first, ''L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brigadoon (film)
''Brigadoon'' is a 1954 American Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical film made in CinemaScope and Metrocolor based on the 1947 Broadway musical of the same name by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli and stars Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, and Cyd Charisse. ''Brigadoon'' has been broadcast on American television and is available in VHS, DVD and Blu-ray formats. Plot Americans Tommy Albright ( Gene Kelly) and Jeff Douglas (Van Johnson) are on a hunting trip in Scotland and become lost in the woodlands. They happen upon Brigadoon, a miraculously blessed village that rises out of the mists every hundred years for only a day. (This was done so that the village would never be changed or destroyed by the outside world.) Tommy falls in love with village lass Fiona Campbell (Cyd Charisse), whose younger sister Jean (Virginia Bosler), is about to be married to Charlie Dalrymple (Jimmy Thompson). When Tommy and Jeff happen upon clues about the village ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marion Bell
Marion Lee Bell (November 16, 1919 – December 14, 1997) was an American singer and musical theatre performer best known for her role in the Broadway musical ''Brigadoon''.Mel GussowMarion Bell, Star of 'Brigadoon,' Dies at 78''New York Times'' (December 14, 1997). Retrieved 3 April 2020. Personal life Bell was born in St. Louis. Her father was a freight agent on the Wabash Railroad.Gene Lees, ''The Musical Worlds of Lerner and Loewe'' (University of Nebraska Press, 1990), pp. 29, 49–52. She had three sisters, Evelyn, Ruth, and Veronica. The family moved to California, and were established there by the time she was 15. In 1947, she married the librettist Alan Jay Lerner. She was the second of his eight wives, and the only one not to come from a wealthy, socially well-placed family. The marriage lasted two years. Lerner left her six months after ''Brigadoon'' closed its first Broadway run. Her third husband was Tom Charlesworth, an actor and singer she met during a product ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Goulet
Robert Gérard Goulet (November 26, 1933 October 30, 2007) was an American and Canadian singer and actor of French-Canadian ancestry. Goulet was born and raised in Lawrence, Massachusetts until age 13, and then spent his formative years in Canada. Cast as Sir Lancelot and originating the role in the 1960 Broadway musical ''Camelot'' starring opposite established Broadway stars Richard Burton and Julie Andrews, he achieved instant recognition with his performance and interpretation of the song "If Ever I Would Leave You", which became his signature song. His debut in ''Camelot'' marked the beginning of a stage, screen, and recording career. A Grammy Award winner, his career spanned almost six decades. He starred in a 1966 television version of Brigadoon, a production which won five primetime Emmy Awards. In 1968, he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for '' The Happy Time'', a musical about a French-Canadian family set in Ottawa. Early life Goulet was born in Lawrenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Jay Lerner
Alan Jay Lerner (August 31, 1918 – June 14, 1986) was an American lyricist and librettist. In collaboration with Frederick Loewe, and later Burton Lane, he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of musical theatre both for the stage and on film. He won three Tony Awards and three Academy Awards, among other honors. Early life and education Born in New York City, he was the son of Edith Adelson Lerner and Joseph Jay Lerner, whose brother, Samuel Alexander Lerner, was founder and owner of the Lerner Stores, a chain of dress shops. One of Lerner's cousins was the radio comedian and television game show panelist Henry Morgan. Lerner was educated at Bedales School in England, The Choate School (now Choate Rosemary Hall) in Wallingford, Connecticut, (where he wrote "The Choate Marching Song") and Harvard. He attended both Camp Androscoggin and Camp Greylock. At both Choate and Harvard, Lerner was a classmate of John F. Kennedy; at Choate they had work ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyd Charisse
Cyd Charisse (born Tula Ellice Finklea; March 8, 1922 – June 17, 2008) was an American actress and dancer. After recovering from polio as a child and studying ballet, Charisse entered films in the 1940s. Her roles usually featured her abilities as a dancer, and she was paired with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly; her films include ''Singin' in the Rain'' (1952), '' The Band Wagon'' (1953), ''Brigadoon'' with Gene Kelly and Van Johnson (1954) and ''Silk Stockings'' (1957). She stopped dancing in films in the late 1950s, but continued acting in film and television, and in 1991 made her Broadway debut. In her later years, she discussed the history of the Hollywood musical in documentaries, and was featured in '' That's Entertainment! III'' in 1994. She was awarded the National Medal of the Arts and Humanities in 2006. Early life Cyd Charisse was born Tula Ellice Finklea in Amarillo, Texas, the daughter of Lela (née Norwood) and Ernest Enos Finklea Sr., who was a jeweler. Her nick ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agnes De Mille
Agnes George de Mille (September 18, 1905 – October 7, 1993) was an American dancer and choreographer. Early years Agnes de Mille was born in New York City into a well-connected family of theater professionals. Her father William C. deMille and her uncle Cecil B. DeMille were both Hollywood directors. Her mother, Anna Angela George, was the daughter of Henry George, the economist. On her father's side, Agnes was the granddaughter of playwrights Henry Churchill de Mille and Matilda Beatrice deMille. Her paternal grandmother was of German-Jewish descent. She had a love for acting and originally wanted to be an actress, but was told that she was "not pretty enough", so she turned her attention to dance. As a child, she had longed to dance, but dance at this time was considered more of an activity, rather than a viable career option, so her parents refused to allow her to dance. She did not seriously consider dancing as a career until after she graduated from college. When d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American actor, dancer, singer, filmmaker, and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessible to the general public, "dance for the common man." He starred in, choreographed, and co-directed with Stanley Donen some of the most well-regarded musical films of the 1940s and 1950s. Kelly is best known for his performances in '' An American in Paris'' (1951), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, '' Singin' in the Rain'' (1952), which he and Donen directed and choreographed, and other musical films of that era such as '' Cover Girl'' (1944) and '' Anchors Aweigh'' (1945), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. '' On the Town'' (1949), which he co-directed with Donen, was his directorial debut. Later in the 1950s, as musicals waned in popularity, he starred in ''Brigadoon'' (1954) and '' It's Always ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pamela Britton
Pamela Britton (born Armilda Jane Owens, March 19, 1923 – June 17, 1974) was an American actress, best known for appearing as Lorelei Brown in the television series '' My Favorite Martian'' (1963–1966) and for her female lead in the film noir classic '' D.O.A.'' (1950). Throughout her acting career, Britton appeared often on Broadway and in several Hollywood and television films. Early career Armilda Jane Owens was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Ethel (Waite) and Dr. Raymond Gilbert Owens, a physician. Her mother was a prominent stage, radio, and early television actress. She had two sisters: Virginia, who was an actress for RKO Radio Pictures; and Mary, a social worker. Armilda attended Holy Angels Academy and the State Teacher's Normal School in her home town of Milwaukee. By the age of nine she was doing summer stock, and Hollywood came calling at age ten. Her mother rejected the advances, saying she wanted her to be an actress, not a child star. Owen started audit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frederick Loewe
Frederick Loewe (, originally German Friedrich (Fritz) Löwe ; June 10, 1901 – February 14, 1988) was an Austrian-American composer. He collaborated with lyricist Alan Jay Lerner on a series of Broadway musicals, including ''Brigadoon'', '' Paint Your Wagon'', '' My Fair Lady'', and ''Camelot'', all of which were made into films, as well as the original film musical '' Gigi'' (1958), which was first transferred to the stage in 1973. Biography Loewe was born in Berlin ( Charlottenburg), Germany, to Viennese parents Edmund and Rosa Loewe. His father was a noted Jewish operetta star who performed throughout Europe and in North and South America; he starred as Count Danilo in the 1906 Berlin production of '' The Merry Widow''. Loewe grew up in Berlin and attended a Prussian cadet school from the age of five until he was thirteen. At an early age Loewe learned to play piano by ear and helped his father rehearse, and he began composing songs at age seven. He eventually attended ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Brooks (actor)
David Brooks (September 24, 1915 – March 31, 1999) was an American actor, singer, director, and producer who first drew critical acclamation starring in several Broadway musicals during the 1940s, including portraying Tommy Albright in the original production of ''Brigadoon''. In the early 1950s he was an important stage director in the avant-garde theatre scene of Milan, Italy. He returned to the United States during the mid-1950s and worked principally as a stage director and producer for over a decade. He was instrumental in producing the United States premieres of a number of works by Eugène Ionesco and Samuel Beckett, and remained active as an actor up until the 1980s. Biography Brooks was born in Portland, Oregon, to Jewish parents and earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Washington, where he trained as a classical baritone. He won a scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he pursued graduate studies in opera. While a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Almost Like Being In Love
"Almost Like Being in Love" is a show tune with music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. It was written for the score of their 1947 musical ''Brigadoon''. The song was first sung by David Brooks and Marion Bell, in the Broadway production. It was later performed in the 1954 film version by Gene Kelly. Michael Johnson version "Almost Like Being in Love" was revived in a downbeat ballad version by singer Michael Johnson (U.S. no. 32, 1978). His rendition became a Top 10 Adult Contemporary hit in both the U.S. (no. 4) and Canada (no. 10). Other versions *There were three hit versions of the song in the United States in 1947: Frank Sinatra's version was the highest charting at no. 20. Mildred Bailey and Mary Martin both charted with the song at no. 21 that year. *Nat King Cole recorded more than one version of the song, including a later version that was used as the closing song in the 1993 movie Groundhog Day which starred Bill Murray. Cole's version, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ted Royal
Ted Royal ewar'' (6 September 1904, Skedee, Oklahoma - 27 March (?) 1981) was an American orchestrator, conductor and composer for Broadway theatre. He was most active in the 1940s and 1950s, being associated with the very successful original productions of Lerner and Loewe's ''Brigadoon'' and '' Paint Your Wagon''. Together with George Bassman he orchestrated Frank Loesser's ''Guys and Dolls''. The dean of musical orchestrators, Robert Russell Bennett, remembered Royal as "one of Broadway's very special arrangers." Big band days Royal may have also been known in New York under the name of Ted Klinefelter. He majored in music at the University of Kansas and completed further studies in Houston and New York, including a correspondence course in the mathematical musical progressions advanced by the influential theorist Joseph Schillinger, who had also taught George Gershwin. After floating around as a sideman in various minstrel shows, Royal settled down as alto sax in the T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
