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The Band Wagon
''The Band Wagon'' is a 1953 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. The plot follows an aging musical star who hopes a Broadway show will revive his career, but the play's director envisions a pretentious retelling of '' Faust'' and brings in a '' prima ballerina'' who clashes with the star. Although initially a box-office disappointment, the film is now regarded among the finest Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals, alongside '' An American in Paris'' (1951) and '' Singin' in the Rain'' (1952). Prolific Hollywood composer Arthur Schwartz and lyricist Howard Dietz wrote the songs, with orchestrations by Conrad Salinger, and dance and musical numbers staged by Michael Kidd. Schwartz and Dietz adapted parts of the score from their 1931 Broadway revue ''The Band Wagon'', starring siblings Fred and Adele Astaire. The song " Dancing in the Dark", from the original Broadway production, is considered part of the G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Band Wagon (1953) Trailer 1
''The Band Wagon'' is a 1953 American Musical film, musical romantic comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. The plot follows an aging musical star who hopes a Broadway theatre, Broadway show will revive his career, but the play's director envisions a pretentious retelling of ''Faust'' and brings in a ''prima ballerina'' who clashes with the star. Although initially a box-office disappointment, the film is now regarded among the finest Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals, alongside ''An American in Paris (film), An American in Paris'' (1951) and ''Singin' in the Rain'' (1952). Prolific Hollywood composer Arthur Schwartz and lyricist Howard Dietz wrote the songs, with orchestrations by Conrad Salinger, and dance and musical numbers staged by Michael Kidd. Schwartz and Dietz adapted parts of the score from their The Band Wagon (musical), 1931 Broadway revue ''The Band Wagon'', starring siblings Fred and Adele Astaire. The song "Dancing in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vincente Minnelli
Vincente Minnelli (; born Lester Anthony Minnelli; February 28, 1903 – July 25, 1986) was an American Theatre director, stage director and film director. From a career spanning over half a century, he is best known for his sophisticated innovation and artistry in musical films. , six of his films have been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Minnelli made his stage debut as an actor in a production of ''East Lynne'', staged by the Minnelli Brothers' Tent Theater (co-founded by his father and paternal uncle). After graduating from high school, he worked as an apprentice window designer at Marshall Field's department store in Chicago. There, he attended the Art Institute of Chicago and became a costume designer for the Balaban and Katz theater chain. By the early 1930s, he moved to New York City and served as the art director for the Radio City Music Hall. In 1935, Minnelli became a theatre director with ''At Home Abroad'' (1935), starring Beatr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great American Songbook
The Great American Songbook is the loosely defined canon of significant 20th-century American jazz standards, popular songs, and show tunes. Definition According to the Great American Songbook Foundation: The "Great American Songbook" is the canon of the most important and influential American popular songs and jazz standards from the early 20th century that have stood the test of time in their life and legacy. Often referred to as "American Standards", the songs published during the Golden Age of this genre include those popular and enduring tunes from the 1920s to the 1950s that were created for Broadway theatre, musical theatre, and Hollywood musical film. Culture writer Martin Chilton defines the term "Great American Songbook" as follows: "Tunes of Broadway musical theatre, Hollywood movie musicals and Tin Pan Alley (the hub of songwriting that was the music publishers' row on New York's West 28th Street)". Chilton adds that these songs "became the core repertoire of j ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dancing In The Dark (Howard Dietz And Arthur Schwartz Song)
"Dancing in the Dark" is a popular American song, with music by Arthur Schwartz and lyrics by Howard Dietz, that was introduced by John Barker with Tilly Losch dancing in the 1931 revue ''The Band Wagon''. The song was first recorded by Bing Crosby on August 19, 1931 with Studio Orchestra directed by Victor Young, staying on the pop charts for six weeks, peaking at #3, and helping to make it a lasting standard. The 1941 recording by Artie Shaw and His Orchestra earned Shaw one of his eight gold records at the height of the Big Band era of the 1930s and 1940s. Shaw's 1940 arrangement was a collaboration between Shaw and his chief arranger, Lennie Hayton, who was also an important Music Director, arranger and orchestrator at MGM until 1953. It was subsequently featured in the classic 1953 MGM musical ''The Band Wagon'' and has since come to be considered part of the Great American Songbook. In the film it is orchestrally performed to a ballet dance by Fred Astaire and Cyd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adele Astaire
Adele Astaire Douglass (born Adele Marie Austerlitz, later known as Lady Charles Cavendish; September 10, 1896 – January 25, 1981) was an American dancer, stage actress, and singer. After beginning work as a dancer and vaudeville performer at the age of nine, Astaire built a successful performance career with her younger brother, Fred Astaire. The brother and sister act initially worked their way through vaudeville circuits, finally achieving a breakthrough with their first Broadway theatre, Broadway roles in 1917. Astaire became known for her talents as a skilled dancer and comedienne, starring in hit Broadway musicals such as ''Lady, Be Good (musical), Lady, Be Good!'' (1924), ''Funny Face (musical), Funny Face'' (1927) and ''The Band Wagon (musical), The Band Wagon'' (1931)''.'' The siblings took several of their more popular shows to Britain's West End theatre, West End during the 1920s, where they were soon international celebrities, meeting members of the British roy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Band Wagon (musical)
''The Band Wagon'' is a musical revue with book by George S. Kaufman and Howard Dietz, lyrics also by Dietz and music by Arthur Schwartz. It first played on Broadway in 1931, running for 260 performances. It introduced the song " Dancing in the Dark" and inspired two films. Production The revue opened on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre on June 3, 1931, and concluded on January 16, 1932, running a total of 260 performances. Produced by Max Gordon, staging and lighting were by Hassard Short, choreography by Albertina Rasch, and scenic design by Albert R. Johnson. The cast included Fred Astaire, Adele Astaire, Helen Broderick, Tilly Losch, and Frank Morgan. According to Steven Suskin, "very few people are around who saw ''The Band Wagon'', but they all seem to insist that it was the finest Broadway revue ever." According to Furia and Lasser, ''The Band Wagon'' is "arguably the greatest of the 'little' revues of the 1930s". Ken Bloom states that ''The Band Wagon' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Kidd
Michael Kidd (August 12, 1915 – December 23, 2007) was an American film and stage choreographer, dancer and actor, whose career spanned five decades, and who staged some of the leading Broadway and film musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Kidd, strongly influenced by Charlie Chaplin and Léonide Massine, was an innovator in what came to be known as the "integrated musical", in which dance movements are integral to the plot. He was probably best known for his athletic dance numbers in '' Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'', a 1954 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical. Film critic Stephanie Zacharek called the barn-raising sequence in ''Seven Brides'' "one of the most rousing dance numbers ever put on screen". He was the first choreographer to win five Tony Awards, and was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1996 for advancing dance in film. Early life and dance career Kidd was born Milton Greenwald, in New York City on the Lower East Side, the son of Abraham Greenwald, a barber, and his wife Lillia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conrad Salinger
Conrad Salinger (August 30, 1901, Brookline, Massachusetts – June 17, 1962, Pacific Palisades, California) was an American arranger, orchestrator and composer, who studied classical composition at the Paris Conservatoire. He is credited with orchestrating nine productions on Broadway from 1931 to 1938, and over seventy-five motion pictures from 1931 to 1962. Film scholar Clive Hirschhorn considers him the finest orchestrator ever to work in the movies. Early in his career, film composer John Williams spent much time around Salinger. Hollywood career During his Broadway apprenticeship Salinger first came across Johnny Green, his future MGM musical director, when they were recording motion picture overtures in the early days of sound at New York to be shown before the main features began. Salinger first came out to Hollywood in the late 1930s to work for Alfred Newman (e.g. ''Born to Dance'' and '' Gunga Din'') and also collaborated with the famed Broadway orchestrator Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Singin' In The Rain
''Singin' in the Rain'' is a 1952 American musical romantic comedy film directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds, and featuring Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell, Rita Moreno and Cyd Charisse in supporting roles. It offers a lighthearted depiction of Hollywood in the late 1920s, with the three stars portraying performers caught up in the transition from silent films to "talkies". Arthur Freed conceived the idea of the film based on the back catalogs of songs written by himself and Nacio Herb Brown. Because many of the songs had been written during the transition from silent films to "talkies", writers Betty Comden and Adolph Green decided that was when the story should be set. When the story morphed into that of a romantic hero with a vaudevillian background surviving the transition period in Hollywood and falling back onto his old song-and-dance habits, Kelly, who was chosen for the lead along with Donen, r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
An American In Paris (film)
''An American in Paris'' is a 1951 American musical romantic comedy film inspired by the 1928 jazz-influenced symphonic poem (or tone poem) ''An American in Paris'' by George Gershwin. Starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron (her film debut), Oscar Levant, Georges Guétary, and Nina Foch, the film is set in Paris, and was directed by Vincente Minnelli from a script by Alan Jay Lerner. The music is by George Gershwin, with lyrics by his brother Ira, with additional music by Johnny Green, and Saul Chaplin, the music directors. The story of the film is interspersed with dance numbers choreographed by Gene Kelly and set to Gershwin's music. MGM executive Arthur Freed bought the Gershwin musical catalog from George's brother Ira in the late 1940s, since George died in 1937. Some of the tunes in this catalog were included in the movie, such as "I Got Rhythm" and " Love Is Here to Stay". Other songs in the movie include " I'll Build A Stairway to Paradise" and " 'S Wonderful". The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prima Ballerina
A ballet dancer is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. Ballet dancers are at a high risk of injury due to the demanding technique of ballet. Training and technique Ballet dancers typically begin training at an early age as young as three or four if they desire to perform professionally and often take part in international competitions such as YAGP and Prix de Lausanne. At these events, scholarships are being granted to the most talented dancers, enabling them to continue their training at renowned ballet schools around the world, such as the John Kranko Schule in Germany and the Académie de Danse Classique Princesse Grace in Monaco. Pre-professional ballet dancers can audition to enroll at a vocational ballet school such as The Royal Ballet School or Elmhurst Ballet School. These types of ballet board ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Faust
Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a Crossroads (folklore), crossroads, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. The Faust legend has been the basis for Works based on Faust, many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical works that have reinterpreted it through the ages. "Faust" and the adjective "''Faustian''" imply sacrificing spiritual values for power, knowledge, or material gain. The Faust of early books – as well as the ballads, dramas, movies, and puppet-plays which grew out of them – is irrevocably damned because he prefers human knowledge over divine knowledge: "He laid the Holy Scriptures behind the door and under the bench, refused to be called doctor of theology, but preferred to be styled doctor of medicine". Chapbooks containing v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
