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Bobby Child
''Crazy for You'' is a romantic comedy musical with a book by Ken Ludwig, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin. Billed as "The New Gershwin Musical Comedy", it is largely based on the songwriting team's 1930 musical ''Girl Crazy'', but also incorporates songs from several other productions. It won the 1992 Tony Award (Broadway), the 1993 Olivier Award (London), and the 1994 Dora Award (Toronto) for Best Musical. Background Roger Horchow and Elizabeth Williams had been wanting to produce a new version of ''Girl Crazy''. They engaged Ken Ludwig to write the book, Mike Ockrent to direct, and Susan Stroman to do the choreography, and obtained permission from the Gershwin family. Richard Godwin, and Valerie Gordon were the associate producers. The production soon changed to become a new show, using various Gershwin songs from different times. Six songs from ''Girl Crazy'' were selected: "Bidin' My Time", "Could You Use Me?", "Embraceable You" , "I Got Rhythm", " But ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular music, popular and classical music. Among his best-known works are the songs "Swanee (song), Swanee" (1919) and "Fascinating Rhythm" (1924), the orchestral compositions ''Rhapsody in Blue'' (1924) and ''An American in Paris'' (1928), the jazz standards "Embraceable You" (1928) and "I Got Rhythm" (1930) and the opera ''Porgy and Bess'' (1935), which included the hit "Summertime (George Gershwin song), Summertime". His ''Of Thee I Sing'' (1931) was the first musical theater, musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Gershwin studied piano under Charles Hambitzer and composition with Rubin Goldmark, Henry Cowell, and Joseph Brody. He began his career as a song plugger but soon started composing Broadway theater works with his brother Ira Gershwin and with Buddy DeSylva. He moved to Paris, intending to study with Nadia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Ockrent
Michael Robert Ockrent (18 June 1946 – 2 December 1999) was a British stage director, well-known both for his Broadway musicals and smaller niche plays. He was educated at Highgate School. Through directing '' Educating Rita'', '' The Nerd'' and '' Follies'', he became an established figure in London theatre. In 1986 he made a successful transition to New York City with '' Me and My Girl'' that earned several Tony Award nominations. In later life Ockrent worked in film, mainly straight-to-TV movies. In 1992 Ockrent worked with Susan Stroman on '' Crazy for You'' and other productions. They were married in 1996 and remained so until Ockrent's death from leukaemia in New York in 1999. Ockrent's son is the screenwriter and director Ben Ockrent. A charitable trust now exists in his name. The trust aims to give access to theatre for children with cancer, involving nights at the theatre with visits backstage afterwards. It also funds leukaemia research, "both mainstream and 'al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Damsel In Distress (1937 Film)
''A Damsel in Distress'' is a 1937 American English-themed Hollywood musical comedy film starring Fred Astaire, George Burns, Gracie Allen and Joan Fontaine. Loosely based upon P.G. Wodehouse's 1919 novel of the same name and the 1928 stage play written by Wodehouse and Ian Hay, it has music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin. The film was directed by George Stevens, who had also directed Astaire in ''Swing Time'' (1936). Plot The staff at Totleigh Castle know that the lovely Lady Alyce Marshmorton must marry soon and wager on whom the groom will be. With all of the likely candidates already claimed, young footman Albert places a bet on a "Mr. X", someone totally out of the blue. Lady Alyce has a secret romantic interest in an American whom family has not met. She leaves the castle one day to venture into London and encounters American entertainer Jerry Halliday, who is accompanied by press agent George and his secretary Gracie. Jerry is incorrectly led to believe that he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shall We Dance (1937 Film)
''Shall We Dance'' is a 1937 American musical comedy film directed by Mark Sandrich. It is the seventh of the ten Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers films. The story follows a Russian-imposter ballet dancer (Astaire) who falls in love with a tap dancer (Rogers); the tabloid press concocts a story of their marriage, after which life imitates art. George Gershwin wrote the symphonic underscore and Ira Gershwin the lyrics, for their second Hollywood musical. Plot Peter P. Peters is an amiable American ballet dancer billed as "Petrov", who cultivates a public image of being a serious, demanding and temperamental Russian, though his employer knows the truth. Peters dances for a ballet company in Paris owned by the bumbling Jeffrey Baird. Baird secretly never wants to blend classical ballet with modern jazz dancing because he thinks it does not look very professional. When Peters sees a photo of famous tap dancer Linda Keene, he falls in love with her. He contrives to meet her (as "Petr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Primrose (musical)
''Primrose'' is a musical in three acts with a book by Guy Bolton and George Grossmith Jr., lyrics by Desmond Carter and Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin. It centres on a writer whose story-within-a-story forms the basis of the plot. It was written expressly for the London stage, where it ran for 255 performances in 1924 and 1925. The musical played in Australia,Reilly, Lucas"A Forgotten George Gershwin Musical Just Made Its American Debut" ''Mental Floss'', 8 July 2017 but it was not performed in the United States until more than half a century after it was written.1987 sleeve notes by John McGlinn to EMI recording CDC 7 47977 2 George Gershwin, at 25 years old, was an established songwriter by 1924 when Grossmith and his producing partners, J. A. E. Malone and Edward Laurillard, hired him to produce the score for ''Primrose'' for them in London. The musical is the first in which Gershwin wrote some of the orchestrations himself. The year was one of the busiest for Ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secaucus, New Jersey
Secaucus ( ) is a Town (New Jersey), town in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 22,181, an increase of 5,917 (+36.4%) from the 2010 United States census, 2010 census count of 16,264, which in turn reflected an increase of 333 (+2.1%) from the 15,931 counted in the 2000 United States census, 2000 census. Located within the New Jersey Meadowlands, it is the most suburban of the county's municipalities, though large parts of the town are dedicated to light manufacturing, retail, and transportation uses, as well as protected areas. Secaucus is a derivation of the Algonquian languages, Algonquian words for "black" (''seke'' or ''sukit'') and "snake" (''achgook''), or "place of snakes", or ''sekakes'', referring to snakes. History ''Sikakes'', once an island, was part of the territory purchased by Director-General of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant in 1658. The territory was part ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Treasure Girl
''Treasure Girl'' is a 1928 American musical with a book by Fred Thompson and Vincent Lawrence, music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. The musical's best-known song is " (I've Got a) Crush on You", which has been recorded by a number of artists, including Frank Sinatra. After a tryout in Philadelphia beginning on October 15, 1928, the musical opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on November 8, 1928. It ran for 68 performances before closing on January 5, 1929. It starred Gertrude Lawrence and featured Clifton Webb and Walter Catlett. Bertram Harrison directed, and Bobby Connelly choreographed. The critics praised the lyrics and some of the music but found the book "remorselessly dull".Pollack, Howard.''George Gershwin: his life and work'' pp. 429–30, Berkeley: University of California Press (2006). Musical numbers Setting: The Beach; The Drive; The Garden; The Island; The Ballroom ;Act 1 *"Skull and Bones" – Ensemble *" (I've Got a) Crush on You" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Show Girl (1929 Musical)
''Show Girl'' is a musical with music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Gus Kahn, and a book William Anthony McGuire. It ran at Broadway's Ziegfeld Theatre from Jul 2, 1929 to Oct 5, 1929. A backstage musical, much of the action of the musical's story takes place at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City. Other scenes take place in Trenton, New Jersey; Brooklyn; and at a Penthouse apartment in New York City. The show tells the story of aspiring showgirl Dixie Dugan (played by Ruby Keeler) as she is pursued by four suitors (played by Eddie Foy, Jr., Joseph Macauley, Austin Fairman, and Frank McHugh). The character of Dixie Dugan was created by J. P. McEvoy and was first introduced in ''Liberty'' before McEvoy published his 1928 novel ''Show Girl'' (on which the musical was loosely based). The Broadway production was produced by Florenz Ziegfeld, directed by McGuire, and choreographed by Bobby Connolly, with ballet sequences—including one set to '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
But Not For Me (song)
"But Not for Me" is a popular song originally written by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin for the musical ''Girl Crazy'' (1930). Ella Fitzgerald's 1959 version of "But Not for Me," which appeared on ''Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook,'' won the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Female Vocal Performance. Singer Ketty Lester remade "But Not for Me" with a gospel arrangement. The song reached No. 10 on the US Adult Contemporary chart, No. 41 on the ''Billboard'' Top 40, and No. 45 in the UK in 1962. Other recordings * Harry James with Helen Forrest – recorded for Columbia on December 30, 1941 and reached No. 12 in the ''Billboard'' charts in 1942. * Bing Crosby – recorded both in 1942 and 1954 for his radio show. It was included in the box set ''The Bing Crosby CBS Radio Recordings (1954–56)'' issued by Mosaic in 2009. * Diahann Carroll - ''The Magic of Diahann Carroll'' (with the André Previn Trio) (1960) * Judy Garland – for the 1943 film ''Gir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Got Rhythm
"I Got Rhythm" is a piece composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and published in 1930, which became a jazz standard. Its chord progression, known as the " rhythm changes", is the foundation for many other popular jazz tunes such as Charlie Parker's and Dizzy Gillespie's bebop standard "Anthropology (Thrivin' on a Riff)". Composition The song came from the musical '' Girl Crazy'', which also includes two other hit songs, " Embraceable You" and " But Not for Me", and has been sung by many jazz singers since. It was originally written as a slow song for '' Treasure Girl'' (1928) and found another, faster setting in ''Girl Crazy''. Ethel Merman sang the song in the original Broadway production and Broadway lore holds that George Gershwin, after seeing her opening reviews, warned her never to take a singing lesson. The piece was originally penned in the key of D major. The song melody uses four notes of the five-note pentatonic scale, first rising, then fallin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Embraceable You
"Embraceable You" is a jazz standard song with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. The song was written in 1928 for an unpublished operetta named ''East Is West''. It was published in 1930 and included in that year's Broadway musical ''Girl Crazy'', performed by Ginger Rogers in a song and dance routine choreographed by Fred Astaire. Billie Holiday's 1944 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2005. Other versions * Irene Cara in '' City Heat'' * Nat King Cole – (1943) * Bing Crosby (recorded November 12, 1947) – included in the album '' Bing Crosby Sings Songs by George Gershwin''. * Ella Fitzgerald – ''Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook'' (1959) * Jane Froman – '' With a Song in My Heart'' * Judy Garland – ''Girl Crazy'', film (1943) * Frank Sinatra – 1944 for Columbia, 1960 for Capitol on ''Nice 'n' Easy'' * Erroll Garner * Herbie Hancock – ''Gershwin's World'' (1998) * Billie Holiday – 1944 * Billie Hol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
