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Pacific Overtures
''Pacific Overtures'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by John Weidman, with "additional material by" Hugh Wheeler. Set in nineteenth-century Japan, it tells the story of the country's westernization starting in 1853, when American ships forcibly opened it to the rest of the world. The story is told from the point of view of the Japanese, and focuses in particular on the lives of two friends who are caught in the change. Sondheim wrote the score in a quasi-Japanese style of parallel 4ths and no leading-tone. He did not use the pentatonic scale; the 4th degree of the major scale is represented from the opening number through the finale, as Sondheim found just five pitches too limiting. The music contrasts Japanese contemplation ("There Is No Other Way") with Western ingenuousness ("Please Hello") while over the course of the 127 years, Western harmonies, tonality and even lyrics are infused into the score. The score is generally considered to be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March22, 1930November26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. Regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, he is credited with reinventing the American musical. He received List of awards and nominations received by Stephen Sondheim, numerous accolades, including eight Tony Awards, an Academy Award, eight Grammy Awards, an Olivier Award, and the Pulitzer Prize. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1982, and awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 1993 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. Sondheim was mentored at an early age by Oscar Hammerstein II and later frequently collaborated with Harold Prince and James Lapine. His Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals tackle themes that range beyond the genre's traditional subjects, while addressing darker elements of the human experience. His music and lyrics are tinged with complexity, sophistication, and ambivalence about various aspects of li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asian People
"Asian people" (sometimes "Asiatic people")United States National Library of Medicine. Medical Subject Headings. 2004. November 17, 200Nlm.nih.gov: ''Asian Continental Ancestry Group'' is also used for categorical purposes. is an umbrella term for people who belong to any ethnic, racial, or national group with origins in Asia. It is most often used in contexts concerning the Asian diaspora, which consists of Asian people and their descendants living outside of the continent. The exact definition of the term may vary by country; some classifications of "Asian" may only refer to certain Asian-origin groups, as opposed to the population of the entire continent. Meanings by region Anglophone Africa and the Caribbean In parts of anglophone Africa, especially East Africa and in parts of the Caribbean, the term "Asian" is more commonly associated with people of South Asian origin, particularly Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans. In South Africa the term "Asian" i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Florence Klotz
Florence Klotz (October 28, 1920 – November 1, 2006) was an American costume designer on Broadway and on film. Biography Born in Brooklyn, New York, to parents who owned a millinery store, she graduated from Parsons School of Design, and went to work painting fabrics for Brooks Costumes, one of the best known theatre costume companies. In 1951, while working there she was approached by famed designer Irene Sharaff to assist her with the costumes for Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's ''The King and I''. She subsequently worked for other leading designers including Lucinda Ballard and Raoul Pene Du Bois before embarking on designing for plays on her own in the 1960s. It was there she met her companion for the next half century Ruth Mitchell who later would co-produce Broadway shows with Hal Prince. Klotz won the first of her six Tony Awards for costume design for the 1971 Stephen Sondheim musical '' Follies''. In her Broadway career she worked on 58 Broadway sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boris Aronson
Boris Aronson (October 15, 1898 – November 16, 1980) was an American scenic designer for Broadway and Yiddish theatre. He won the Tony Award for Scenic Design six times in his career. Biography The son of a Rabbi, Aronson was born in Kiev, in the Russian Empire (in present-day Ukraine), and enrolled in art school during his youth. Aronson became an apprentice to the designer Aleksandra Ekster, who introduced him to the directors Vsevolod Meyerhold and Alexander Tairov, who influenced him. These three theatre and art veterans were advocates of the Constructivist school in Russia, as opposed to Stanislavski's form of Realism, and they convinced Aronson to embrace the Constructivist style. Aronson worked for some years in Moscow and Germany. In Berlin he exhibited at the seminal Van Diemen Gallery "First Exhibition of Russian Art", alongside the Constructivists El Lissitzky and Naum Gabo, which introduced Constructivism to the West. He wrote two books in Berlin, on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patricia Birch
Patricia Ann Birch (born October 16, 1934) is an American dancer, choreographer, film director, and theatre director. Early life Born in Englewood, New Jersey, Birch began her career as a dancer in Broadway musicals, including '' Brigadoon'', '' Goldilocks'', and ''West Side Story'' (playing Anybodys). She has directed and choreographed music videos for Cyndi Lauper, The Rolling Stones, and Carly Simon. She earned Emmy Awards for her direction of the television specials ''Natalie Cole: Unforgettable'' and ''Celebrating Gershwin'' and, in collaboration with Michael Tilson Thomas, she staged the concert version of '' On the Town'' performed by both the London Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony. She spent six years staging numbers for ''Saturday Night Live''. In the 1960s, she taught dance at the Juilliard School's pre-college division in New York City. She performed as a soloist with Martha Graham and Agnes de Mille. Work Film *''The Electric Company'' (1971) *'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Prince
Harold Smith Prince (born Harold Smith; January 30, 1928 – July 31, 2019), commonly known as Hal Prince, was an American theatre director and producer known for his work in musical theatre. One of the foremost figures in 20th-century theatre, Prince became associated throughout his career with many of the most noteworthy musicals in Broadway history, including ''West Side Story'', ''Fiddler on the Roof'', ''Cabaret'', ''Sweeney Todd'', and '' Phantom of the Opera'', the longest-running show in Broadway history. Many of his productions broke new ground for musical theater, expanding the possibilities of the form by incorporating more serious and political subjects, such as Nazism (''Cabaret''), the difficulties of marriage (''Company''), and the forcible opening of 19th-century Japan ('' Pacific Overtures''). Over the span of his career, he garnered 21 Tony Awards, including eight for Direction, eight for producing the year's Best Musical, two as Best Producer of a Mus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winter Garden Theatre
The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre at 1634 Broadway in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Originally designed by architect William Albert Swasey, it opened in 1911. The Winter Garden's current design dates to 1922, when it was completely remodeled by Herbert J. Krapp. Due to the size of its auditorium, stage, and backstage facilities, it is favored for large musical productions. It has 1,600 seats and is operated by The Shubert Organization. The auditorium interior is a New York City landmark. The Winter Garden Theatre was adapted from the old building of the American Horse Exchange, completed in 1896. Its original façade consisted of several arches on Broadway, which were subsequently converted to a brick wall with a large sign. The interior is covered with detailing in the Adam style. Though the auditorium contains a single balcony above the orchestra level, the boxes are arranged in two levels above the orchestra. The audit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fictioneer Books
David Anthony Kraft (May 31, 1952 – May 19, 2021) was an American comic book writer, publisher, and critic. He was primarily known for his long-running journal of interviews and criticism, ''Comics Interview'', as well as for work for Marvel Comics in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Writing career Before his comics career, Kraft worked as a rock and roll journalist. In September 1976, he became editor of '' FOOM'' with issue #15, Marvel's self-produced fan magazine, lasting as editor until the magazine's final issue (#22) in 1978. Known for his offbeat approach, Kraft first made a name for himself as a comic book author with his work on Marvel Comics' '' The Defenders'', particularly the 1977 "Scorpio Saga" story-arc (issues #46, 48–50). In ''The Defenders'', Kraft wrestled with large philosophical issues: the temptations of power, the Cold War and nuclear power, sibling rivalry, and growing old alone. Scorpio also listened to a record by Edgard Varèse. Kraft also merged ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Kennedy Center
The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, 1971, the center hosts many different genres of performance art, such as theater, dance, classical music, jazz, pop, psychedelic, and folk music. It is the official residence of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera. Authorized by the National Cultural Center Act of 1958, which requires that its programming be sustained through private funds, the center represents a public–private partnership. Its activities include educational and outreach initiatives, almost entirely funded through ticket sales and gifts from individuals, corporations, and private foundations. The center receives annual federal funding to pay for building maintenance and operation. The original building, designed by architect was constru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeastern United States. It has an area of and a population of 675,647 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the third-largest city in the Northeastern United States after New York City and Philadelphia. The larger Greater Boston metropolitan statistical area has a population of 4.9 million as of 2023, making it the largest metropolitan area in New England and the Metropolitan statistical area, eleventh-largest in the United States. Boston was founded on Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by English Puritans, Puritan settlers, who named the city after the market town of Boston, Lincolnshire in England. During the American Revolution and American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War, Boston was home to several seminal events, incl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matthew C
Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Chinese Elm ''Ulmus parvifolia'' Christianity * Matthew the Apostle, one of the apostles of Jesus * Gospel of Matthew, a book of the Bible Ships * ''Matthew'' (1497 ship), the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497, with two 1990s replicas * MV ''Matthew I'', a suspected drug-runner scuttled in 2013 * Interdiction of MV ''Matthew'', a 2023 operation of the Irish military against a 2001 Panamanian cargo ship See also * Matt (given name), the diminutive form of Matthew * Mathew, alternative spelling of Matthew * Matthews (other) * Matthew effect The Matthew effect, sometimes called the Matthew principle or cumulative advantage, is the tendency of individuals to accrue social or economic success in proportion to their initial level of popularity, friends, and wealth. It is sometimes summar ... * Tropic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
