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James Mitchell (actor)
James Mitchell (February 29, 1920 – January 22, 2010) was an American actor and dancer. Although he is best known to television audiences as Palmer Cortlandt on the soap opera ''All My Children'' (1979–2010), theatre and dance historians remember him as one of Agnes de Mille's leading dancers. Mitchell's skill at combining dance and acting was considered something of a novelty; in 1959, the critic Olga Maynard singled him out as "an important example of the new dancer-actor-singer in American ballet", pointing to his interpretive abilities and "masculine" technique. Early life Mitchell was born on Leap Day, 1920 in Sacramento, California. His parents emigrated from England to Northern California, where they operated a fruit farm in Turlock. In 1923, Mitchell's mother, Edith, left his father and returned to England with Mitchell's brother and sister; she and Mitchell had no further contact. Unable to run a farm while single-handedly raising his remaining son, Mitchell's fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stars In My Crown (film)
''Stars in My Crown'' is a 1950 Western film directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Joel McCrea as a preacher whose faith tames an unruly town by inspiring the townspeople to change. It was based on the 1947 novel of the same name by Joe David Brown. Plot Shortly after the American Civil War, preacher Josiah Gray (Joel McCrea) arrives in the town of Walesburg. He heads straight for the saloon to give his first sermon. When the patrons laugh at him, he pulls out two guns, cowing the men into listening. Josiah settles in and becomes a well-respected member of the community. The people build a church. He marries Harriet ( Ellen Drew) and raises her orphan nephew John (Dean Stockwell). (The story is narrated by Marshall Thompson, as an adult John.) When the beloved Dr. Harris, Sr. (Lewis Stone) dies, his place is taken by his son ( James Mitchell), but the younger, unreligious man is not well-liked and wants to leave Walesburg. He falls in love with the schoolteacher, Faith S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bella Lewitzky
Bella Rebecca Lewitzky (January 13, 1916 – July 16, 2004) was an American modern dance choreographer, dancer and teacher. Lewitzky was a lifelong advocate for artistic freedom in dance, and continuously pursued political and artistic objectives in her works. Throughout her over 70-year career, Lewitzky asserted her independence as an artist and a teacher, repeatedly confronting major institutions and the federal government in the process. Lewitzky's unique technique emphasized seriousness and stability, extending to both the movements performed by her dancers and the approach she took to operating her company. Early life and education Bella Rebecca Lewitzky was born on January 13, 1916, in Llano del Rio, California, a short-lived Intentional community, utopian community in the Antelope Valley led by Socialist Party of America, Socialists. Her parents, Joseph Lewitzky and Nina (Ossman) Lewitzky, were History of the Jews in Russia, Russian Jewish immigrants, who joined Ll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Winnipeg Ballet
The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is Canada's oldest ballet company and the longest continuously operating ballet company in North America. History It was founded in 1939 as the "Winnipeg Ballet Club" by Gweneth Lloyd and Betty Farrally (who also founded the ballet school The Canadian School of Ballet in British Columbia). The name was changed to the "Winnipeg Ballet" in 1941 and the company began touring Canada in 1945. In 1948, with the initiative of the Winnipeg Ballet, the Canadian Ballet Festival was formed. The Royal Winnipeg Ballet was granted its royal title in 1953, the first granted under the reign of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II. It completed its first American tour in 1954. In June that year the RWB's rented premises were devastated by fire; the company's entire stock of costumes, original music, choreographic scores and sets were destroyed. Conductor Eric Wild (conductor), Eric Wild served as the company's music director from 1955 to 1962. The c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agnes De Mille Dance Theatre
The Agnes de Mille Dance Theatre toured the United States from 1953 to 1954 under the aegis of producer Sol Hurok. The company offered an overview of Agnes de Mille's choreography to that date, with the addition of Anna Sokolow's "Short Lecture & Demonstration on the Evolution of Ragtime" (set to music by Billy Taylor) and Danny Daniels's "Razamatazz" (set to music by Jelly Roll Morton). In addition to several of de Mille's early pieces, the company performed the ''Bloomer Girl'' waltz and ballets based on the original dances for ''Brigadoon'' (''Ballad'', later reworked as ''Bitter Weird'') and '' Paint Your Wagon'' (''Gold Rush'', televised in 1958 with Gemze de Lappe, James Mitchell, and Sono Osato). There is no known visual record of the full repertory, although archival footage exists of ''Ballad'' and the finale, "Hell on Wheels--1863". There were twenty performers in the company, many of whom had worked for de Mille before. The leads were de Mille favorites James Mitchell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fall River Legend
''Fall River Legend'' is a ballet by American choreographer Agnes de Mille, with music by Morton Gould. Set in Massachusetts in 1892-1893, the ballet tells the infamous story of Lizzie Borden. The work notably alters the outcome of the court case, with Borden receiving a guilty verdict rather than an acquittal. De Mille herself believed that Borden was guilty of the murder of her father and stepmother. Like the majority of de Mille’s ballets, ''Fall River Legend'' is deeply character driven. The ballet was commissioned by American Ballet Theatre and premiered on April 22, 1948 at the Metropolitan Opera House (39th Street), Metropolitan Opera House. Today, ''Fall River Legend'' is considered by many scholars to be her masterpiece and when it first premiered, the reviews of the ballet were generally positive. Conception The playwright Edward Sheldon encouraged de Mille to use the Lizzie Borden story for a dance, following the success of her 1942 ballet ''Rodeo (ballet), Rodeo''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rodeo (ballet)
''Rodeo'' is a ballet composed by Aaron Copland and choreographed by Agnes de Mille, which premiered in 1942. Subtitled "''The Courting at Burnt Ranch''", the ballet consists of five sections: " Buckaroo Holiday", " Corral Nocturne", " Ranch House Party", " Saturday Night Waltz", and "Hoe-Down". The symphonic version omits "Ranch House Party", leaving the other sections relatively intact. Genesis The original ballet was choreographed by Agnes de Mille for the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo, a dance company that moved to the United States during World War II. In order to compete with the rival company Ballet Theatre, the Ballet Russe commissioned de Mille out of a career of relative obscurity. The choreographer was given considerable creative control, choosing Aaron Copland as the composer after being impressed by his previous ballet, '' Billy the Kid''. Though Copland was initially reluctant to compose "another Cowboy ballet," De Mille persuaded him that this show would mark a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Ballet Theatre
American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant. Through 2019, it had an annual eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) in the spring and a shorter season at the David H. Koch Theater in the fall; the company tours around the world the rest of the year. The company was scheduled to have a 5-week spring season at the MET preceded by a 2-week season at the Koch Theater beginning in 2020. ABT is the parent company of the American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, and was recognized as "America's National Ballet Company" in 2006 by the United States Congress. History In 1939 Pleasant and Chase committed to the creation of "a large scale company with an eclectic repertory". The pair and a small group from Mordkin Ballet formed Ballet Theatre. Their new company's first performance was on 11 January 1940. Chase began developing the company's repertoir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Come Summer
''Come Summer'' is a Broadway musical with a book and lyrics by Will Holt and music by David Baker, based on '' Rainbow on the Road'' by Esther Forbes and vocal arrangements by Trude Rittmann. The original Broadway production opened on March 18, 1969 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre starring, Ray Bolger, Leonard John Crofoot, David Cryer, Cathryn Damon, Margaret Hamilton, and Barbara Sharma. Directed by Agnes de Mille it closed after 7 performances on March 22, 1969. Despite its short run, David Cryer won the 1969 Theatre World Award. The story tells of an itinerant peddlar in 19th century New England, and the people whose lives he affects. Behind the scenes, the musical was a disaster. Ray Bolger demanded that the producers expand his role;Carol Easton, ''No Intermissions: The Life of Agnes de Mille'' (New York: Da Capo, 2000), 421. several rewrites later, de Mille herself was fired and replaced by Burt Shevelove Burton George Shevelove (September 19, 1915 – April 8, 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paint Your Wagon (musical)
''Paint Your Wagon'' is a Broadway musical comedy, with book and lyrics by Alan J. Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story centers on a miner and his daughter and follows the lives and loves of the people in a mining camp in Gold Rush-era California. Popular songs from the show included " Wand'rin' Star", "I Talk to the Trees", and " They Call the Wind Maria". The musical ran on Broadway in 1951 and in the West End in 1953. In 1969, the film version, also titled '' Paint Your Wagon,'' was released. It had a highly revised plot and some new songs composed by Lerner and André Previn. Synopsis ;Act I In the California Wilderness in May 1853, a crusty old miner, Ben Rumson, is conducting a makeshift funeral for a friend. Meanwhile, his 16-year-old daughter Jennifer discovers gold dust. Ben claims the land, and prospectors start flocking to the brand new town of Rumson ("I'm On My Way"). Two months later Rumson has a population of 400, all of whom are men except for J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brigadoon (musical)
''Brigadoon'' is a musical with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and score by Frederick Loewe. The plot features two American tourists who stumble upon Brigadoon, a mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every 100 years; one tourist soon falls in love with a young woman from Brigadoon. The show's song "Almost Like Being in Love" subsequently became a standard. The original production opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway in 1947 and ran for 581 performances, starring David Brooks, Marion Bell, Pamela Britton, and Lee Sullivan. ''Brigadoon'' opened at Her Majesty's Theatre in the West End in 1949 and ran for 685 performances; many revivals have followed. The 1954 film adaptation starred Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse, while the 1966 television version starred Robert Goulet, Sally Ann Howes, and Peter Falk. Background Lyricist and book writer Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe had previously collaborated on three musicals; the first, ''Lif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (film)
''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'' is a 1954 American musical film, directed by Stanley Donen, with music by Gene de Paul, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, and choreography by Michael Kidd. The screenplay, by Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich, and Dorothy Kingsley, is based on the short story "The Sobbin' Women" by Stephen Vincent Benét, which was based in turn on the ancient Roman legend of the Rape of the Sabine women. ''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'', which is set in Oregon in 1850, is particularly known for Kidd's unusual choreography, which makes dance numbers out of such mundane frontier pursuits as chopping wood and raising a barn. Film critic Stephanie Zacharek has called the barn-raising sequence in ''Seven Brides'' "one of the most rousing dance numbers ever put on screen." The film was photographed in Ansco Color in the CinemaScope format. ''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'' won the Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture and was nominated for four additi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bloomer Girl
''Bloomer Girl'' is a 1944 Broadway theatre, Broadway musical theatre, musical with music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg, and a book by Sig Herzig and Fred Saidy, based on an unpublished play by writer Daniel Lewis James and his wife Lilith.Suskin, 89 The plot concerns independent Evelina Applegate, a hoop skirt manufacturer's daughter who defies her father by rejecting hoopskirts and embracing comfortable Bloomers (clothing), bloomers advocated by her aunt "Dolly" Bloomer, who was inspired by the women's rights advocate Amelia Bloomer. The American Civil War is looming, and Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist Evelina refuses to marry suitor Jeff Calhoun until he frees his slave, Pompey. A television version of the musical was shown in 1956. Productions The original Broadway production opened at the Shubert Theatre on October 5, 1944, directed by William Schorr and produced by John C. Wilson in association with Nat Goldstone. The production's scenic designer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
